Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Sept.30: Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, an ace fighter pilot, succeeded Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria as the Chief of Air Staff on Thursday. During the peak of China-India conflict, Chaudhari was incharge of the Ladakh sector. Chaudhari would be taking over the force at a time when the country is still in a standoff position with China on its borders and tensions in the area are high owing to the situation in Afghanistan. He has served in many critical positions at both field formations and air headquarters.
Chaudhari would also be incharge of putting advanced air defence systems in place, such as Russia’s S-400, which would be inducted soon. He will also be in charge of the fighter aircraft fleet’s upgrading, as more indigenous and foreign-made fighter aircraft are expected to be inducted in the near future.
He joined the Indian Air Force’s fighter stream in December 1982 and has over 3,800 hours of flying experience on a variety of fighter and trainer aircraft, including missions flown during Operation Meghdoot, the Air Force’s support for the capture of Siachen glacier in the 1980s, and Operation Safed Sagar (the support provided by the IAF during the Kargil conflict in 1999).
Chaudhari, a graduate of the National Defence Academy and the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, has previously commanded a frontline fighter squadron and a fighter base. He has served as Deputy Commandant of the Air Force Academy, Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence), and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel/Officers) as an Air Vice Marshal. He has also served as Air HQ’s Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, the Eastern Air Command’s Senior Air Staff Officer, and the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Air Command.
