Govt Appoints Air Marshal V R Chaudhari As Next Chief Of Indian Air Force

The government has decided to appoint Air Marshal Vivek Ram 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 30 September.

Air Marshal V R Chaudhari was commissioned into the fighter stream of Indian Air Force on 29 December 1982 and has held various command, staff and instructional appointments at various levels including the present one as Vice Chief of Air Staff, a Ministry of Defence release said on Monday (21 September).

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.