Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit is the next Chief of Air Staff

The Government has appointed Vice Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit as the next Chief of the Air Staff.

He will assume charge in the rank of Air Chief Marshal from the afternoon of October 31, 2026, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, who retires on the same day.

According to Ministry of Defence, Air Marshal Dixit will be the 29th Chief of the Air Staff. A fighter pilot with nearly four decades of service, he has more than 3,500 hours of flying experience on a range of aircraft, including the Mirage-2000, MiG variants, Jaguar, IL-78, Hawk and Tejas.

Commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 6, 1986, Air Marshal Dixit has held several key operational and staff appointments. Before taking over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, he served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) at Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command, it said.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Staff Service College, Bangladesh, and National Defence College, Air Marshal Dixit is an Experimental Test Pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor.

During his career, he has commanded a frontline fighter air base in the Western Sector and a fighter training base in the Southern Sector. He has also been involved in several operations and exercises, including Operation Sated Sagar, Operation Rakshak and Operation Sindoor.

Air Marshal Dixit was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 2006, Vishisht Seva Medal in 2011, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2023 and Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2026 for distinguished service.