Form of words:
New Delhi: experienced fighter pilot Vivek Ram Choudhary, who oversees India’s aerial response to China’s aggression along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, took over as the chief of the Indian Air Force on Thursday following the retirement of Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhry, now the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), is one of the few military chiefs in the Army, Navy or Air Force when his child is also in service. His son is a Rafale fighter pilot.
Earlier, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne (Retd) had his son serving in the Indian Air Force when he was the Chief (2011-2013).
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aviator, instructor, aerobate
Born on 4 September 1962, Air Chief Marshal Choudhary was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on 29 December 1982.
National Defense Academy alumnus, air officer takes charge as chief at a time When IAF is in the middle Battling with a massive modernization campaign and a dwindling fighter squadron strength.
The officer has flown a variety of aircraft, including the MiG-21, MiG-23MF, and MiG-29, and has completed over 3,800 flight hours.
Since July, he was serving as the Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force, a position he took after a nearly year-long stint in the crucial Western Air Command.
He was a member of the first aerobatics team Sun. The beam – which pulls off dazzling displays of heart-wrenching maneuvers in mid-air – and is a Cat-A qualified Flying Instructor, Graduate from Defense Services Staff College, Wellington (Tamil Nadu), and is an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner.
He has commanded a MiG-29 Squadron and also served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of an operationally active base. His roles include a stint as the commander of an important IAF base.
As an Air Vice Marshal, Choudhary served as Deputy Commandant at the Air Force Academy, Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence) and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Officer).
Other roles include deputy chief at Air Force Headquarters, which deals with modernization and acquisitions, and senior air staff officer at Eastern Air Command.
Reducing combat strength a matter of concern
One of the major challenges that the new IAF chief will have to deal with is fighter aircraft squadron strength.
At present, the IAF has 30 squadrons, while the sanctioned strength is 42.
While the IAF has ordered 83 LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Mk-1A, it is facing further shortage in future as four squadrons of MiG-21 Bison are to be de-commissioned by 2025, thereafter Jaguars are aircraft. The Mirage 2000 and MiG-29 squadrons will also be phased out over the next two decades.
According to IAF own guesses From 2019, even though all existing orders of 36 Rafale, six squadrons of Tejas (including Tejas Mark-1A) and two more squadrons of Sukhoi Su-30MKIs are taken into account, the number of squadrons will come down to 27 by 2032 and only 19 by 2032. Will remain until 2042.
Even if one takes into account the induction of the Tejas Mk-2 (still in the design stage), 114 new fighters (the project is yet to be decided), and the indigenous Advanced Medium Fighter Aircraft (still in the design stage) Is. The IAF is unlikely to reach the sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons by 2042.
The IAF last had 42 squadrons in 2002.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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