The Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research (CAFHR) was established under the aegis of the United Service Institution of India (USI) at the request of the three Service Headquarters with the purpose of encouraging objective study and research into various aspects of the history of the Indian Armed Forces. Squadron Leader (Retired) Rana T.S. Chhina is Secretary and Editor of CAFHR. He served in the Indian Air Force as a Helicopter Pilot. A recipient of the Macgregor Memorial Medal for best military reconnaissance in 1986, he had the distinction of carrying out the highest landing in the world by a medium-lift class of helicopter (Mi-17). The aim of the Centre is to study the history of the Indian Armed Forces with an emphasis on the following periods: a)Post Independence. b)1900-1947 AD. c)1750-1900 AD. d)Prior to 1750 AD. Besides providing fellowship grants to encourage the study of Indian Military History, the CAFHR is also engaged in a pro-active approach towards documenting and cataloguing historical records. Towards this end, the following tasks are being undertaken by the Centre : a)Establishing an Oral Archive. b)Establishing an archive/data bank of manuscripts and primary records. c)Working towards formulating and implementing a practical record management policy for the Indian Defence Establishment. d)Editing of Official War Histories for Ministry of Defence, Government of India (Completed in 2005).
