Who is Air Marshal AP Singh, set to be the new Air Chief?

He studied at the government school in Janakpuri, Delhi and graduated from the National Defence Academy – 65th course (Kilo Squadron) and was the Squadron Cadet Captain. He is an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College as well.

The top officer is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an Experimental Test Pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience on a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft.

People who have worked closely with him say he has a sharp analytical mind and has been a hands-on leader in every situation.

Among his peers, the top officer is known to be a warm and affable personality among his peers. His colleagues say he is approachable, frank with his words and has a good sense of humour. He is a long-distance runner, enjoys playing squash, loves to cook and prioritises fitness and work life balance.

As the Vice Chief of the IAF, he has been instrumental in driving self-reliance in defence, while keeping in mind the challenges that come to the service along with it.

During his service of nearly four decades, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff, instructional and foreign appointments.

During his career, the officer has commanded a MiG-27 squadron and a frontline air base. As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team at Moscow, Russia.

He was also the Project Director (Flight Test) at National Flight Test Centre and was tasked with flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas.

He has held important staff appointments of Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at Eastern Air Command. Prior to assuming the charge of Vice Chief of the Air Staff, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command.

The officer was at the forefront of the recently-concluded largest-ever multilateral air exercise Tarang Shakti that was concluded earlier this month.

As the Vice Chief of the IAF, he has been instrumental in driving self-reliance in defence, without losing sight of the challenges that come to the service along with it.

At an event in July, he made a strong pitch that Atmanirbharta or self-reliance cannot be achieved at the cost of India’s national security, while underlining that the current geopolitics has thrown up the lesson of being self-reliant and that it should be pursued holistically in letter and spirit. This made him the first top service officer to have spoken publicly on the challenges that came with the reform.

In a significant message on the importance and the efficiency of India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, he flew the fighter jet earlier this month. The Army Vice Chief Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani and the Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan also flew in the twin seater.

He is also known for fostering better coordination between the IAF, Army and Navy.