Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh, presently serving as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, was on Saturday named as the next Chief of the Air Staff, in the rank of Air Chief Marshal.He will take charge from September 30, the day the present Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari will demit the office, an official statement said.
Born on October 27, 1964, Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the Indian Air Force in December 1984.During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 40 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff, instructional and foreign appointments.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, the Air 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.
During his career, the officer has commanded an operational fighter 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.(UNI)<>