Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora

Vice Chief of the Air Staff

Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora took over as the Vice Chief of Air Staff on October 1, 2019. The Air Marshal was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF in December 1981. He has rich and diverse experience of accident free operational flying which includes on MiG-21, MiG-29 and other aircraft including helicopters, in the inventory of the IAF. As an Air Vice Marshal he was Air Defence Commander at Headquarters of Western Air Command as well as Eastern Air Command. As an Air Marshal, he has held the appointments of Director General (Inspection and Safety) and Director General Air (Operations) at Air Headquarters. He is a graduate of Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College and is Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies. Before taking over as the VCAS, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command, IAF from October 1, 2018. In recognition of his distinguished service he has been awarded AVSM and ADC.

Air Marshal Sandeep Singh

Deputy Chief of the Air Staff

Air Marshal Sandeep Singh has taken over as the Deputy Chief of Air Staff on October 1, 2019. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned in the Fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in December 1983. He has flown a number of fighter and transport aircraft like MiG-21, MiG-29, Su-30, Kirans, Jaguars, Mirage 2000, AVROs and AN-32s and commanded Su-30 Squadron and two flying stations. Air Marshal Singh is an Experimental Test pilot and qualified Flying Instructor with over 4600 hours of flying experience. He was earlier the Commandant of Aircraft and System Testing Establishment and also the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of Eastern Air Command. He has been awarded AVSM and VM.

Air Marshal S.K. Ghotia

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command

Air Marshal S.K. Ghotia took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South-Western Air Command, on October 1, 2019. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF in December 1981. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor with more than 1000 hours of instructional experience. The Air Marshal has served in a number of important staff appointments which include Director Intelligence at Air Headquarters, Ops 1A at Headquarters Western Air Command, Principal Director Training (Flying) at Air Headquarters, Air Attaché at Embassy of India, Paris, Air Officer Commanding COBRA Group and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence). He has undergone the Air Staff Course at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and has undergone the Higher Air Command Course at College of Air Warfare. Prior to taking over the South Western Command, he was the AOC-in-C, Training Command, IAF. He is the recipient of VSM.