Meet Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria || The New Chief of the Indian Air Force

Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria has recently been made the Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. He has become the 42nd Chief of the Indian Air Force. He assumed office on 30 September 2019 after superannuation of Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa. Here is everything you need to know about him.

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Education

Chief Bhadauria hails from Korath, a small village near Agra. He is an alumnus from the prestigious National Defence Academy(NDA) which is one of the very best military training academies in the world. After graduating from the NDA, he joined the Air Force Academy(AFA) from were he graduated with the coveted ‘Sword of Honour’ for standing first in the overall order of merit in the academy and was commissioned in the fighter stream of Indian Air Force on 15 June 1980. He also completed his Masters in Defence Studies from Command and Staff College, Bangladesh.

Military Career and Experience

He belongs to No. 5 Squadron(Tuskers) of the Indian Air Force. It is a fighter squadron and is equipped with Jaguar IS fighter jets. It is based at Ambala Air Force Station under the Western Air Command.

No. 5 Squadron - Image Source

He got a term extension due to his appointment as the air force chief. Otherwise, he was scheduled to retire as a Vice Chief along with previous Air Chief BS Dhanoa in September.

He has over 4270 hours of experience on twenty seven types of fighters as well as transport aircraft This includes 3940 hrs of flying to his credit with over 900 hours of instructional flying and 400 hours of test flying. He has flown 380 hours as CO.

He holds the unique distinction of being an Experimental Test Pilot, a Cat 'A' Qualified Flying Instructor and a Pilot Attack Instructor.

In a career spanning almost 4 decades, he has held numerous field and staff appointments which include

• Command of a front line Jaguar Squadron 
• Command of a premier Air Force Station in South-Western sector 
• Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft & System Testing Establishment 
• Chief Test Pilot as well as Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project
• Air Attache, at EoI Moscow
• Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects) at Air HQ
• Commandant National Defence Academy
• Senior Air Staff Officer at Central Air Command
• Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ 
• Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Air Command 
• Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Training Command
• Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

An Exceptional Leader

Air Chief Marshall RKS Bhadauria - Image Source

He has glorious leadership record throughout his service. As a Wing Commander, he contributed heavily in providing operational and user inputs to the design and development agencies carrying out Navigation and Weapon Aiming Sub System (Nav WASS) Jaguar upgrade of the IAF.

Under his leadership, his unit, Squadron 5 has also submitted valuable papers on utilisation of Airborne Warning And Control System (AWACS), and night formation flying. During the period of his command, the squadron has flown 4500 accident free hours and the squadron has achieved a great success by achieving 100% serviceability. 100% serviceability by a squadron means that all aircraft on its establishment were flown and made fit for inducting in service of the nation.

He also led the sensitive negotiations for the 56,000 crore procurement of the Dassault Rafale Multirole fighter jet in the Indian Air Force.

Operation Safed Sagar

Operation Safed Sagar was a very important joint operation by Indian Army and Indian Air Force during the Kargil War.  It was the first large scale use of Air power in the Jammu and Kashmir region since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The operation was highly successful and was important for India's victory in the war.

Even though Chief Bhadauria and his squadron was not directly involved in it, his method for carrying bombing from the Jaguar aircraft using Global Positioning System (GPS) was one of the major reasons for the operation's success. He devised a Jaguar GPS modification technique that made bombings from Jaguar more efficient and that method was heavily used in the operation.  

Awards and Decorations

For his meritorious service and exceptional leadership, he has been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal (VM) in 2002, Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2013 and Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) in 2018. He was also appointed as the Honorary Air Force ADC to the Honorable President of India on 01 January 2019.

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Hi, I am Pranjay Varshney. I am pursuing my B.Sc. (Hons) in Electronic Science from University of Delhi. My dream is to join the Indian Army as an officer and I am very passionate about it. I like to write articles about Indian Armed Forces and various political and economic affairs. I spend my free time doing gymnastics, listening to music or watching movies.