AFCAT Goes Online: All You Need To Know

Just recently AFCAT released its official notification for application for AFCAT 1 2018, and the whole aspirant community went crazy – from tagging on fb to sharing on WhatsApp. But what was the big deal, you ask? It was AFCAT going online! Yes, you read it. For the first ever time in the history of AFCAT, the test will be conducted online across various examination centers in India. This is not the only shocker for the aspirants. The exam, which used to be free of cost to apply, would be charged at 250/- INR per application. AFCAT is arguably one of the easiest competitive exams to crack. This news broke out when online examination system for IAF was launched on 11th December 2017. IAF is now completely switching over to online testing of aspiring candidates from January 2018. The applications will be accepted from 15th December 2017. The web portal for online examination – https://afcat.cdac.in/AFCAT/ was launched on the occasion. It was developed in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

MoS for Defence Subhash Bhamre inaugurated the examination web portal in presence of Air Marshal SB Deo, VCAS along with other senior Air Force Officers. Selection system for Officers and Airmen cadre in the IAF has been continuously evolving and sustained efforts are in place to strengthen the testing system. Though the existing system is time tested and well proven, constraints of testing capacity and geographical reach were major limitations in according opportunity to all the deserving and eligible candidates from across the country especially to rural youth. To improve upon the system and to make it more candidate friendly while enhancing organisational efficiency, the project was taken up on 31st October 2017 with C-DAC. It will be implemented with effect from January 2018. Earlier IAF had hundred plus centres pan India for Officer cadre exam and fourteen centres for Airmen selection exams. Certain states / UTs did not have any testing centre. Consequently, candidates had to spend considerable time and resources on travelling to the testing centres. In the new system, there would be about 760 examination centres all over the country and the maximum distance a candidate would be required to travel now will be considerably less from the place of his/her residence. It will enable approximately four lakh candidates for Airmen selection and two lakh candidates for Officer’s selection, to appear in the exam every six months. Along with AFCAT, online applications are invited for grant of Short Service Commission (SSC) in Flying Branch and Permanent Commission (PC)/Short Service Commission (SSC) in Ground Duty (Technical and Non-technical) Branches. Online applications are also invited for grant of PC/SSC for Flying Branch through NCC Special Entry Scheme and Meteorology Entry. These will be open to apply on the official website of IAF.