Air Marshal Tejinder Singh took over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Singh was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1987. He is a Category ‘A’ Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,500 hours of flying and an alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College and National Defence College, the according to the MoD statement. He has commanded a fighter squadron, a radar station, a premier fighter base and was the Air Officer Commanding, Jammu and Kashmir.
“His varied staff appointments include Operational Staff at a Command HQ, Air Commodore (Personnel Officers-1) at Air HQ, Deputy Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Financial (Planning) at HQ IDS, Air Commodore (Aerospace Safety), Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Offensive) and ACAS Ops (Strategy) at Air HQ,” the statement said.
Before his appointment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ Eastern Air Command of the IAF at Shillong, Meghalaya. In recognition of his meritorious services, the statement said he was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 2007 and the Ati Vishist Seva Medal in 2022 by the President of India.
Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit Takes Over As AOC-In-C Central Air Command
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Defence announced that Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit has assumed the position of Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command as of Sunday. Air Marshal Dixit, a distinguished officer, joined the fighter stream of the IAF in 1986. He is an experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor with over 3,300 hours of flying experience on various aircraft in the IAF inventory.
The statement mentioned that he is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College (Bangladesh), and National Defence College. He has participated in numerous operations and exercises, including ‘Op Safed Sagar’ and ‘Op Rakshak’.
Throughout his 37-year career, the Air Officer has served in various important field and staff positions. As a Commanding Officer, he modernized one of the IAF squadrons with state-of-the-art Mirage aircraft. Subsequently, he commanded a front-line fighter air base in the Western Sector and a premier fighter training base in the Southern Sector.
The Air Officer led numerous innovative projects during his previous tenure, focusing on adopting future technologies and ensuring modernization while emphasizing ‘Atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) for the IAF.
The Ministry emphasized that the top priority for the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief will be ensuring the operational readiness of Central Air Command in all scenarios, enabling the IAF to achieve its goals successfully.
Team BharatShakti
