New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Shortly after taking charge as the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh on Monday urged the top air warriors to enhance cohesion and jointness and said his focus would be to further boost combat capabilities of the force.
Air Chief Marshal Singh, an accomplished fighter pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience, succeeded incumbent Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari who retired after helming the force for three years.
"It is important that the IAF remains operationally capable, ever vigilant and a credible deterrence," Air Chief Marshal Singh said in an address to the IAF.
He was serving as the Vice Chief of the IAF before taking the charge of the top post.
Highlighting certain focus areas towards building a 'Sashakt, Saksham and an Atmanirbhar' (strong, capable and self-reliant) IAF, he urged the commanders to adopt a nurturing leadership and enhance cohesion and jointness.
His emphasis on jointness with other services comes against the backdrop of the government's plan to roll out the theaterisation initiative to bring greater synergy among the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.
In his remarks, Air Chief Marshal Singh expressed "absolute faith" and confidence in the air warriors' dedication towards maintaining IAF's operational capability at an all-time high.
The Air Chief Marshal called for attention on the current uncertain geo-political situation and exhorted all air warriors to follow traditions of the great service and ensure that "we all touch the sky with glory".
As Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Singh's priorities are expected to be procurement of new fighter fleets and carrying forward the force's modernisation agenda in the face of evolving national security challenges including the dragging eastern Ladakh border row with China.
Another important task for him would be to focus on the theaterisation plan as the government looks at rolling out the ambitious reform initiative.
Born on October 27, 1964, Air Chief Marshal Singh was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the IAF in December 1984.
In 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.
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.
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.
Air Chief Marshal Singh has taken charge of the IAF amid concerns over delays in supply of LCA Tejas-Mark 1A variant to the force by state-run aerospace giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
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 in February last year, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command.
The Air Chief Marshal, a recipient of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, is known as a fitness enthusiast who also plays squash.
In his comments, he conveyed sincere gratitude to the vision of air veterans and attributed the success of the IAF to their superior efforts and dynamic leadership.
The Air Chief Marshal said he is honoured and privileged to have been entrusted with the responsibility of leading the IAF. PTI MPB KVK KVK
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