Tejinder Singh takes charge as Deputy Chief of Air Staff at Vayu Bhawan

Air Marshal Tejinder Singh on Sunday took over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry said.

After taking charge at the Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan), the Air Marshal paid homage to the bravehearts, who made the supreme sacrifice, by laying wreath at the National War Memorial here.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Singh was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on June 13, 1987.

He is a Category 'A' Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,500 hours of flying and an alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College and National Defence College, the ministry said in a statement.

He has commanded a fighter squadron, a radar station, a premier fighter base and was the Air Officer Commanding, Jammu and Kashmir.

"His varied staff appointments include Operational Staff at a Command HQ, Air Commodore (Personnel Officers-1) at Air HQ, Deputy Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Financial (Planning) at HQ IDS, Air Commodore (Aerospace Safety), Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Offensive) and ACAS Ops (Strategy) at Air HQ," the statement said.

Prior to his present appointment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer, HQ Eastern Air Command of the IAF at Shillong, Meghalaya.

In recognition of his meritorious services, he was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 2007 and the Ati Vishist Seva Medal in 2022 by the President of India, it said.

In a separate statement, the defence ministry said Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit assumed the appointment of Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command on Sunday.

Air Marshal Dixit was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on December 6, 1986. The Air Officer is an experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor with more than 3,300 hours of flying experience on a variety of aircraft in the IAF inventory, it said.

He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College (Bangladesh) and National Defence College. He has actively participated in numerous operations and exercises such as 'Op Safed Sagar' and 'Op Rakshak', the statement said.

During his illustrious career spanning more than 37 years, the Air Officer has held several significant field and staff appointments. As a Commanding Officer, he re-equipped one of the squadrons of the IAF with the state-of-the-art Mirage aircraft and later commanded a front-line fighter air base in the Western Sector and a premiere fighter training base in the Southern Sector, it added.

The Air Officer headed many path-breaking projects during his previous tenure with the adoption of future technologies and ensured that the IAF achieves modernisation while maintaining a steady focus on 'Atmanirbharta'.

Operational readiness of Central Air Command in all scenarios shall be the top most agenda of the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief to ensure the IAF achieves its goal successfully, the ministry said.

In recognition of his meritorious services, he has been awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vayu Sena Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal by the President of India.