Air Chief Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, an accomplished fighter pilot with over 3,500 hours of flying experience on over 20 types of aircraft, on Saturday assumed charge as the new Chief of Air Staff.
He takes over from Chief Marshal A.P. Singh, who superannuated from the force after a 43-year-long career, at a time when the Indian Air Force (IAF) is facing a serious shortage of fighter squadrons and delays in the induction of new combat aircraft.
The IAF currently has 29 fighter squadrons against the sanctioned strength of 42. There have been inordinate delays in the delivery of LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas Mk1A, while the fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) and the Tejas Mk2 are years away from operationalisation.
The new IAF chief has played a major role in promoting LCA Tejas and other indigenous aircraft projects in the IAF. Air Marshal Dixit is expected to further boost the Aatmanirbharta initiative of the government in the defence sector.
His predecessor has, in the past, expressed dissatisfaction over the delivery delays of fighter jets to the force by state-run HAL.
There is also the ongoing debate over improving the present war preparedness through acquisitions, including possible procurement of fifth-generation fighters, and boosting domestic capability through indigenous production in view of the long-term capability enhancement.
Another priority is the plan for theaterisation, which has been in the pipeline for quite some time. The IAF has expressed concerns over dividing its existing fighter squadrons among the geographical commands that theaterisation requires.
Air Chief Marshal Dixit, known for his strategic planning and who played a key role during Operation Sindoor, was serving as the Vice Chief of the force before his current appointment.
In a distinguished career spanning four decades, Air Chief Marshal Dixit has held a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.
Born on December 9, 1966, Dixit was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 6, 1986.
Prior to assuming charge as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Dixit served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) at Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff.
Before that, he served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command.
The Air Chief Marshal is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Staff Service College (Bangladesh), and the National Defence College.
An experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor, he has more than 3,500 hours of extensive flying experience on various aircraft, including Mirage-2000, variants of MiG, Kiran, Jaguar, IL-78, Hawk and Tejas.
During his service career spanning approximately four decades, Dixit has been actively involved in numerous operations and training exercises, including Operation Safed Sagar, Operation Rakshak and Operation Sindoor.
He commanded a front-line fighter air base in the Western sector and a premier fighter training base in the Southern sector.
