UPSC - 451 Combined Defence Services Online Form 2026

The Combined Defence Services Examination (CDS) is conducted twice a year by the Union Public Service Commission on behalf of the Ministry of Defence to select officers for the Indian Armed Forces. CDS II 2026 invites applications for admission to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Dehradun, the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, the Air Force Academy at Hyderabad, and the Officers Training Academy at Chennai for courses commencing in 2027. Successful candidates join as Officer Cadets and are commissioned as permanent or short service commissioned officers upon completion of rigorous pre-commissioning training lasting approximately 18 months at IMA and INA, 74 weeks at AFA, and 49 weeks at OTA. The examination is open to male and female graduates across disciplines, with specific subject requirements for Naval and Air Force branches. The recruitment process is managed end-to-end by UPSC for the written stage and by the respective Service Selection Boards for the intelligence and personality testing stage. Candidates selected through CDS serve in operationally significant roles across the Army, Navy, and Air Force with structured promotion timelines, service-specific pay and allowances, and entitlement to military benefits including risk and hardship allowances, free rations, transport allowance, children education allowance, group insurance cover, and medical facilities for the officer and family.

Candidates must be citizens of India, subjects of Nepal, or persons of Indian origin who migrated from specified countries with the intention of permanently settling in India, with a certificate of eligibility from the Government of India where applicable. For IMA and OTA, the minimum educational qualification is a bachelor's degree from a recognised university in any discipline. For the Indian Naval Academy, candidates must hold an engineering degree or a BSc with Physics as a core or elective subject from a recognised university, with Physics and Mathematics at the 10+2 level. For the Air Force Academy, candidates must hold a degree from a recognised university with Physics and Mathematics at the 10+2 level or a bachelor of engineering degree. Candidates appearing in the final year of their degree programme may apply provisionally, subject to submission of proof of passing by dates specified for each academy. Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications recognised by the government as equivalent to prescribed degrees are also eligible. Physical fitness as per the Joint Order Manual of Medical Standards for Entry into Armed Forces is mandatory. Marital status conditions apply: candidates for IMA, INA, and AFA must be unmarried males; OTA men must be unmarried males; OTA women must be unmarried, issueless widows, or issueless divorcees who have not remarried.

Out of 451 total vacancies, 13 seats in IMA, 6 in INA, and 3 in AFA are reserved for NCC 'C' Certificate holders of respective wings under NCC Special Entry. If sufficient NCC qualified candidates are not available, unfilled reserved vacancies are converted to general category. There is no NCC reservation in OTA SSC courses; NCC holders compete as general candidates there. No explicit caste-wise reservation (SC/ST/OBC/EWS) is mentioned in this notification for vacancy allocation. Female candidates and SC/ST candidates are exempted from application fee. The Pratibha Setu Portal makes data of non-recommended SSB-appeared candidates accessible to registered employers with candidate consent.