From Vice Chief to Chief
New Delhi. 21 September 2021. The wait has come to an end, as the Government has decided to appoint Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM, presently Vice Chief of Air Staff, as the next Chief of the Air Staff after the retirement of Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC on 30th September, 2021.
Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM, was commissioned into the Fighter stream of Indian Air Force on 29th December 1982 and has held various Command, Staff and Instructional Appointments at various levels including the present one as Vice Chief of Air Staff.
The Air Officer has flown various aircraft and is experienced on MiG-21, MiG-23MF, MiG-29 and SU-30MKI with a flying experience over 3800 hrs.
He is a Cat A Qualified Flying Instructor, a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College and an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner. The Air Marshal has a rich experience of operational flying, having undertaken numerous Air Defence missions during Op-Meghdoot and Op-Safed Sagar.
The Air Officer has been an Air Force Examiner on several types of fighter and trainer aircraft. He commanded a MiG-29 Squadron and served as the Chief Operations Officer of Air Force Station Srinagar. He commanded a forward base before taking over as Air I at HQ CAC IAF. He has been an Instructor at DSSC Wellington as well as DSCSC at Zambia. He served as the AA to the CAS and later commanded Air Force Station Pune. On promotion to AVM, he tenanted the appointment of Deputy Commandant Air Force Academy and as ACAS Ops (Air Defence). Before taking over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff he was the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers).
During his illustrious career in the IAF, the Air Officer has held numerous important appointments. He was Commanding Officer of a frontline fighter squadron and has also commanded a frontline Fighter Base. As an Air Vice Marshal, he held the coveted appointments of Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence), Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers) at Air HQ Vayu Bhawan. As an Air Marshal, he held the appointment of Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ Vayu Bhawan. Prior to his present appointment, he was the Commander-in-Chief Western Air Command, before which he was Senior Air Staff Officer, Eastern Air Command .
The Air Marshal is an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. In recognition of his distinguished service, the Air Marshal has been decorated with PVSM, AVSM, VM.
