INDIA appointed Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit presently serving as Vice Chief of the Air Staff as the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) 29th Chief of the Air Staff, in the rank of Air Chief Marshal with effect from the afternoon of October 31, 2026 as the present chief, ACM Amar Preet Singh superannuates from office on the same date.
AM Dixit was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF, serving as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) at Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Air Command before assuming the role of Vice Chief of the Air Staff.
The Air Marshal has more than 3500 hours of extensive flying experience on various aircraft including the French Dassault Mirage-2000, variants of Russian-made MiG, Hindustan Aerionautics Limited (HAL) HJT-16 Kiran, SEPECAT Jaguar, Ilyushin Il-78, BAE Hawk and HAL Tejas. As an Experimental Test Pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor, he was actively involved in numerous operations and exercises including Op-Safed Sagar, Op-Rakshak and Op-Sindoor across a career that spanned close to forty years.–-shp/adj/dl (Pix:BELL)
