Centre appoints Air Marshal VR Chaudhari as next IAF chief
He will succeed Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria who will retire from the service on September 30.
Total Views |
New Delhi, September 22: The Union government has appointed Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, presently Vice Chief of Air Staff, as the next Chief of the Air Staff. He will succeed Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria who will retire from the service on September 30.
The Defence Ministry released a statement regarding this on Monday. Defence Ministry spokesman A Bharat Bhushan Babu tweeted: “Government has decided to appoint Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM presently Vice Chief of Air Staff as the next Chief of Air Staff.”
In its statement, the ministry said that the Government has decided to appoint Air Marshal VR Chaudhari, presently the Vice-Chief of the Air Staff as the next Chief of the Air Staff.
Chaudhari had taken over as the vice chief on July 1 this year, after Air Marshal HS Arora retired. Air Marshal V R Chaudhari was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 29 December 1982 and has held various command, staff, and instructional appointments at various levels. He commanded the Western Air Command (WAC), which stretches from Bikaner to Ladakh, from August 2020 to July 2021 amid the ongoing military confrontation with China.
He was earlier also the second-in-command of the Eastern Air Command (EAC) at Shillong, which again oversees the Line of Actual Control with China, and has also handled the entire modernisation of the force in a previous appointment as the deputy IAF chief. He has also served in the past as the Chief Operations Officer of the Srinagar air force station and was also an Air Advisor to the Chief of Air Staff.
Also Read | Game changer in air defence system: IAF inducts MRSAM that can hit multiple targets 70km away
He has a flying experience of more than 3,800 hours on a wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft, including missions flown during Operation Meghdoot, the Air Force’s support to capture the Siachen glacier in the 1980s, and Operation Safed Sagar (the support provided by the IAF during the Kargil conflict in 1999). Chaudhari is a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, and the Vayu Sena Medals.
.
.