He will take over as air chief marshal on October 31, and will remain in the post until December 31, 2028. Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit has been appointed as the next chief of the air staff, the professional head of the Indian Air Force.
A fighter pilot and experimental test pilot, he has logged more than 3,500 hours of flying on aircraft including the Mirage-2000, Jaguar, MiG variants and Tejas. He has more than 3,500 hours of flying experience on several aircraft, including the Mirage-2000, MiG variants, Jaguar, Tejas, Hawk, Kiran, An-32 and IL-78. Dixit later served with the Flight Test Squadron, where he was involved in the indigenous upgrade programmes for Jaguar and MiG-27 aircraft.
Dixit, who took charge as vice chief of the air staff in July this year, has had a career spanning nearly four decades. He has also been associated with major operations and exercises, including Operation Safed Sagar, Operation Rakshak, Cope India and Operation Sindoor . Dixit is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Staff Service College in Bangladesh and the National Defence College. He is a qualified flying instructor and an experimental test pilot. During the early part of his career, Dixit served as an instructor at the Air Force Test Pilots School and later took command of a fighter squadron. His work on the programmes helped enhance the operational capabilities of the aircraft.
