AIR FORCE TEST PILOTS SCHOOL, BANGALORE

The Indian Air Force Test Pilot School, part of the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), evaluates aircraft and systems for induction into the Indian Air Force and other user organisations. Its Air Force Test Pilots School (AFTPS) is one of only five such institutions worldwide that formally trains flight test personnel. The unit's origins trace back to 1948 with the Aircraft Testing Unit, formed to test the newly acquired de Havilland Vampire jets. As India's aviation needs grew, IAF sent pilots to the Empire Test Pilots' School in the UK starting in 1949, and these pilots later formed the core of the Aircraft and Armament Testing Unit (A&ATU) at Kanpur. On 23 August 1972, A&ATU was reorganised as ASTE. Over the decades, ASTE has conducted evaluations of numerous aircraft including the Gnat, Hunter, HF-24 Marut, HJT-16 Kiran, Jaguar, Mirage 2000, MiG-27, MiG-23, and An-32. In 1984, two ASTE officers were selected for the Indo-Soviet joint space venture, with one becoming the first Indian in space. In 2005, the President of India presented the 'Presidential Standard' to ASTE.