Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, who was in command of the Ladakh sector at the height of the China issue, succeeded Marshal RKS Bhadauria as Chief of Air Staff on Thursday.
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Bhadauria retired after 42 years of service as the architect of two major fighter aircraft agreements, including 36 Rafales and 83 indigenous Tejas Mark 1A fighters. Chaudhari would be taking over the force when the nation is still in a stalemate with China on its borders and tensions in the area are high owing to the situation in Afghanistan. He has served in several significant roles at both field units and air headquarters.
Chaudhari would also put new air defence systems in place, such as Russia’s S-400, which would be integrated shortly. He will also be in charge of the fighter aircraft fleet’s modernization, as additional indigenous and foreign-made fighter aircraft are expected to be admitted soon.
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Because the Ambala airbase was under his command as Western Air Commander, Chaudhari, whose son is a Rafale fighter aircraft pilot, facilitated a seamless entry of the Rafales into the Indian Air Force.
