New Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria takes charge

Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC took over as the 26th Chief of the Air Staff at a ceremony held at Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan) yesterday.

An alumnus of the prestigious NDA (National Defence Academy) , he graduated from the Air Force Academy with the coveted ‘Sword of Honour’ and was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on 15 June 1980 . He has over 4270 hours of experience on 27 types of fighters as well as transport aircraft and holds a unique distinction of being an Experimental Test Pilot, a Cat ‘A’ Qualified Flying Instructor and a Pilot Attack Instructor. He completed his Masters in Defence Studies from Command and Staff College, Bangladesh.  In recognition of his meritorious service the Air Chief Marshal has been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal(VM) in 2002, AVSM in 2013 and PVSM in 2018. In January 2019, he was appointed as the Honorary Air Force ADC to the Honorable President of India.

During his illustrious career, spanning almost four decades, the Air Chief Marshal has held a number of significant field and staff appointments which include command of a front line Jaguar Squadron, Command of a premier Air Force Station in South-Western sector, Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft & System Testing Establishment and Chief Test Pilot as well as Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project. He was extensively involved in the initial prototype flight testing on the LCA. He has tenanted the appointments of Air Attaché Moscow, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects), Commandant National Defence Academy, Senior Air Staff Officer at Central Air Command, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Air Command and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Training Command. Before taking over as the Chief of the Air Staff, he held the appointment of Vice Chief of the Air Staff.