Thereafter, he joined PAF Academy, Risalpur in 1969 and was commissioned in Pakistan Air Force as a fighter pilot on 15 April 1972 in the 53rd GD(P) Course.

Air Marshal Tanvir is a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) and a graduate of Combat Commanders School (CCS).

Towards these objectives, he launched a massive drive to bring the entire working/functioning of the PAF online and fully integrated.

Procurement of new generation F-16s (Block-52), Spada SAMs, Chinese AWACS, Swedish AEW&C, locally upgraded/maintained and operationalized Air Defense system, Retrieval of Peace Gate-IV F-16s from the USAF, complete upgradation of older F-16 fleet to most modern version, procurement of highly potent Beyond Visual Range AAMs along with host of other weapons from the US, High Tech Simulators, induction and local manufacturing capability of UAVs, a highly versatile Automated Inventory Management System and local manufacturing of Block-1 of the JF-17 weapon system were some of the major inductions that were contracted by him and in due course inducted in the PAF.

This he achieved over a period of five years while concurrently holding the position of DG, AWC along with his primary responsibilities in the PAF.

"[citation needed] Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmad appeared in a full-page newspaper advertisement (see External Links below) taken out by the government of India's Ministry of Women and Child Development to mark the National Girl Child Day.

Krishna Tirath, Minister of Women and Child Development, apologised on behalf of her ministry for publishing a photograph of a former Pakistan Air Force chief in a government advertisement and said an inquiry will ascertain who was responsible for it.