New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, a fighter pilot, took over as the new Chief of the Air Staff on Monday. He succeeded Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari, who superannuated after completing his three-year tenure.

Air Chief Marshal Singh assumes this role as the strength of Indian Air Force fighter squadrons has dwindled to 30, with two more MiG-21 squadrons set to retire in 2025. Complicating matters is the delay in the delivery of TEJAS MK-1A fighter aircraft by state-owned HAL, due to constraints in the supply of engines from the US firm GE.

Before his appointment as the new Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal Singh served as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff. He was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the Indian Air Force in December 1984. He is the fourth officer from the Sikh community to lead the Indian Air Force.

During his long and distinguished service, which spans nearly 40 years, he has served in various command, staff, instructional, and foreign appointments. Air Chief Marshal Singh is a qualified flying instructor and an experimental test pilot, with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience on a variety of fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. Throughout his career, he has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline airbase.

As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team in Moscow, Russia. He was also the project director (Flight Test) at the National Flight Test Centre, where he was responsible for the flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft, TEJAS. He has held significant staff appointments, including Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command. Prior to assuming the role of Vice Chief of the Air Staff, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command.

Incidentally, Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and Air Chief Marshal Singh are course mates from the 65th course of the National Defence Academy.

Agencies