The Centre on Tuesday appointed Air Marshal V R Chaudhari as the next Chief of the Air Staff, who would take over from the incumbent IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria after he retires on September 30.
Commissioned into the IAF's fighter stream on December 29, 1982, Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari has a flying experience of more than 3,800 hours in fighter and training aircraft including missions flown during Operation "Meghdoot" to secure the control of the Siachen glacier and Operation "Safed Sagar" during the Indo-Pak conflict at Kargil.
"The government has decided to appoint Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, presently Vice Chief of Air Staff, as the next Chief of the Air Staff after the retirement of Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on September 30," the defence ministry said in a brief statement.
Air Marshal Chaudhari will have three full years as the Chief of Air Staff and would play a key role to realise the Centre's plan to come up with four theatre commands for better war fighting capability instead of 17 existing commands.
An alumnus of National Defence Academy and Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, he commanded a frontline fighter squadron and a fighter base. Prior to his appointment as the Vice Chief, he headed the strategically important Western Air Command.
As an Air Vice Marshal, he has been Deputy Commandant, Air Force Academy, Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence) and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers). He has also held the post of Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command.
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(Published 21 September 2021, 14:30 IST)
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