Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit to take over as new Central Air Commander

New Delhi [India], August 31 (ANI): Ace fighter pilot Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit is taking over as the new head of Indian Air Force’s Prayagraj-based Central Air Command from September 1.

He is succeeding Air Marshal RGK Kapoor who superannuated today.

Commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 6, 1986, Air Marshal Dixit is an Experimental Test Plot and a Qualified Flying Instructor with more than 3,300 hours of flying experience on a variety of aircraft in the IAF inventory.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College (Bangladesh) and National Defence College, Dixit was actively involved in the operations and exercises such as Op Safed Sagar in the Kargil War and Op-Bakshak.

As a Commanding Officer, he re-equipped one of the Squadrons of IAF with the state-of-the-art Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft and later commanded a front-line fighter air base in the Western Sector and a premiere fighter training base in the Southern Sector.

The Air Officer held the appointment of Air Defence Commander of Southern Air Command and also tenanted the appointments of Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects) and Assistant Chief of the Air Stall (Plans) at Air Headquarters.

As the Deputy Chief of Air Staff in Air Headquarters, Dixit played a critical role in pushing forward the Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) initiative of the defence forces.

A number of indigenous aircraft projects including the LCA Mark-1A, Mark-2 and AMCA have seen significant forward movement in his tenure as Deputy Chief.

The Air Marshal headed many projects with the adaption of future technologies and worked towards ensuring that the IAF achieves modernization while maintaining a steady focus on ‘Aatmanirbharta Self Reliance’.