| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 7 September 1963 |
| Employees | Classified |
| Annual budget | Classified |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent department | Cabinet Secretariat |
| Parent agency | Directorate General of Security |
The Aviation Research Centre (ARC) is India's imagery intelligence organisation, a part of the Directorate General of Security, run by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).[1] It started functioning in November 1962, in the wake of the Sino-Indian War, as an extension of the Intelligence Bureau, but placed under the Ministry of External Affairs.
It was formally created on 7 September 1963, with R. N. Kao as Director and Acting Group Captain[2] Lal Singh Grewal (later, Vice Chief of Indian Air Force) as Operations Manager at Charbatia air base (code named Oak Tree 1).[3] It was later moved to the Prime Minister's Secretariat, and in February 1965, along with Special Frontier Force and Special Service Bureau (now Sashastra Seema Bal), was brought under the Directorate General of Security in the Cabinet Secretariat (this organisation was created in late 1964 with B. N. Mullick as DG, Security;[4] the post was later shifted to the chief of R&AW upon its constitution in 1968).
One of its most influential Directors was Prof H.B. Mohanti. ARC was initially a temporary and ad hoc organisation, but was made permanent in 1971.[5] Over the years, ARC had grown into a large operation and flies a large and varied fleet that until recently included the high-flying Mach 3 capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25.