Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Vivek Ram Chaudhari on Thursday took over as the 27th Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) from ACM R.K.S. Bhadauria, who superannuated from service.

The change of guard took place during a ceremony at the Vayu Bhawan.

On September 29, the government announced the appointment of ACM Chaudhari as the next Air Chief. Normally, appointment of new Service Chiefs are announced 2-3 months prior to give time for the chief- designate to get oriented with the new role.

Air Marshal Chaudhari was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on December 29, 1982. He has a flying experience of more than 3800 hours on a wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft, including missions flown during Op-Meghdoot and Op-Safed Sagar. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.

Various appointments

As an Air Vice Marshal, he has been Deputy Commandant, Air Force Academy; Assistant Chief of the Air Staff Operations (Air Defence); and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Officers). He has also held important appointments such as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air Headquarters overseeing capital procurements and Senior Air Staff Officer at the Eastern Air Command. He was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Air Command before taking over as Vice Chief on July 1, 2021.

This is the beginning of the change of current line of Service Chiefs, with the Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh set to retire end-November and Army Chief Manoj Naravane in service till April 2022.