The Directorate of Air Intelligence is the

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

arm of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

. It provides timely, accurate and synchronized intelligence support for tactical, operational needs of the Air force.

History

DAI was set up in 1942 as part of the erstwhile

Royal Indian Air Force The Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was the aerial force of British Raj, British India and later the Dominion of India. Along with the British Indian Army, and the Royal Indian Navy, it was one of the Armed Forces of British Indian Empire. The ...

to provide

aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or Strategy, strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including Artillery observer, artillery spott ...

for both the

RIAF The Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was the aerial force of British Raj, British India and later the Dominion of India. Along with the British Indian Army, and the Royal Indian Navy, it was one of the Armed Forces of British Indian Empire. The ...

and RAF, during WW2. It saw major action in

Burma campaign The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of British rule in Burma, Burma as part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II. It primarily involved forces of the Allies of World War II, Allies (mainly from ...

After Independence, DAI provided intelligence support to the IAF during every major war India fought. Air Force intelligence responsibilities included imagery intelligence collection through

MiG-25R The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is a ...

and

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

reconnaissance aircraft. During the 1971 India-Pakistan War, Russian

satellite imagery Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell im ...

provided India with information on Chinese force deployments. With advances in the

Indian space program The Department of Space (DoS) is an Indian government department responsible for administration of the Indian space programme. It manages several agencies and institutes related to space exploration and space technologies. The Indian space pr ...

, the Indian Air Force will be acquiring independent space-based imagery intelligence capabilities.Directorate of Air Intelligence – India Intelligence Agencies
/ref> During

Kargil war The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

, DAI played an important role in providing aerial intelligence about occupied posts and bunkers. These targets were later thoroughly bombed by IAF as a part of

Operation Safed Sagar Operation Safed Sagar (, lit. "Operation White Ocean") was the code name assigned to the Indian Air Force's role in acting jointly with the Indian Army during the 1999 Kargil war that was aimed at flushing out regular and irregular troops o ...

References

Air intelligence Defence agencies of India Indian intelligence agencies 1941 establishments in British India Government agencies established in 1941 Geospatial intelligence organizations {{India-mil-stub