The National Defence Academy is an iconic joint Defence Service Training Institute of the Indian Armed Forces which bears the hallmark of global excellence in the arena of Military Education where cadets of the Indian Tri-Forces, Vis; the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force train together before they proceeds to their respective service academy for their extended pre-commissioned training. It is matter of pride to all Indians that the NDA is the first Tri-Service Academy in the world.

National Defence Academy is located at Khadakwasla near Pune in Maharashtra spread in an area of 7,015 acres of land which means around 28.39 square kilometers. Though the foundation stone for NDA was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 6th of October 1949, but it was formally established on 7th December 1954 and finally started with an inaugural ceremony celebration held on 16 January 1955.

The name of Examination to the NDA is “ National Defence Service and Naval Academy Examination” which is a national level examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which termed or considered as the Gateway for candidates looking for a better career in the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. This exam is a two step process namely NDA & NA I& II in which in the first step the candidates need to go through the written examinations and at the second stage they needs to qualify the personality test/interview being conducted by the Staff Selection Boards (SSB) as per the guidelines issued by the UPSC from time to time. It is also very pertinent that the UPSC holds the sole responsibility for issuing the guidelines for selection and the final conduct of the examination whereas the tri-forces have no role to play in this regard.

Service Selection Board is an organization that assesses the eligibility of candidates to become officers into the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force. The board follows a standardised protocol of evaluation system which includes Personality, Intelligence test and Interviews. The selection board comprises a panel of Officers from the Indian Armed forces having specialization as Psychologist, ground Task Officer (GTO) and the Interviewing Officer. At present there are thirteen (13) Service Selection Boards across India out of which four boards are for the Army, four for Indian Air Force and the remaining five boards are for the Indian Navy. SSB is a five days evaluation process.