Air Marshal A P Singh to be new Vice Chief of Indian Air Force

New Delhi: Air Marshal A P Singh has been appointed as the new Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force, officials said on Monday.

He will succeed Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, who will retire from service on Tuesday.

Air Marshal A P Singh is currently serving as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command. He will take charge as the Vice Chief on Wednesday, the officials said.

He was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on December 21, 1984.

Air Marshal A P Singh is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College.

He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an Experimental Test Pilot with more than 4,900 hours of service flying on a variety of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft.

His operational tenures include being the Flight Commander and Commanding Officer of a MiG 27 squadron and Air Officer Commanding of an air base.

As a test pilot, he has served in Aircraft and System Testing Establishment in various ranks and capacities.

He also led the MiG 29 Upgrade Project Management Team in Moscow, Russia. He was the Project Director (Flight Test) at National Flight Test Centre looking after the flight testing of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas and Air Defence Commander at the South Western Air Command.

Prior to taking over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command, he was Senior Air Staff Officer at the Eastern Air Command.