Air Marshal AP Singh to take over as new Indian Air Force chief tomorrow

New Delhi [India], September 29 (ANI): An ace test pilot, Air Marshal AP Singh, would be taking over as the new Indian Air Force chief tomorrow.

He is succeeding Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari who is superannuating after completing his tenure of three years.

Air Marshal Singh is presently the Vice Chief of the Air Staff and would be assuming his new appointment in the rank of Air Chief Marshal, with effect from the afternoon of September 30.

Born on October 27, 1964, Air Marshal was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the Indian Air Force in December 1984.

During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 40 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff, Instructional and Foreign appointments.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, the Air Officer 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.

During his career, the officer has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base. As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team at Moscow, Russia.

He was also the Project Director (Flight Test) at National Flight Test Centre and was tasked with flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas.

He has held important staff appointments of Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command.

He was also the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command before moving to Air Headquarters.