Air Chief Marshal Ashutosh Dixit took charge as the new IAF chief on Saturday, October 31. He succeeded Air Chief Marshal AP Singh who retired from the force after a 42-year-long illustrious career.
He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College in Bangladesh and the National Defence College. A qualified flying instructor and experimental test pilot, Dixit began his career as an instructor at the Air Force Test Pilots School. Dixit has commanded a frontline fighter airbase in the western sector and a fighter training base in the southern sector. He also served as a Directing Staff at the Air Force Test Pilots School and as Principal Director of Air Staff Requirements at Air Headquarters. Over the course of his career, he held several key appointments, including Air Defence Commander of the Southern Air Command, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects), Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plans) at Air Headquarters, Senior Air Staff Officer at the South Western Air Command and Deputy Chief of Air Staff at Air Headquarters.
An accomplished pilot, he has logged over 3,500 hours of flying experience across 20 aircraft types, including the Mirage-2000, MiG variants, Jaguar, Tejas, Hawk, Kiran, An-32 and IL-78. He then took command of a fighter squadron in December 2003 that was being re-equipped with Mirage-2000 aircraft.
