NEW DELHI: The start of October will bring a major change in the top hierarchy of the defence forces. A new service chief and vice-chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Army are likely to get one of the seven new Commanders. The change in the IAF will be set rolling with the retirement of the current Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria on September 30 and the new incumbents taking charge.
Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, presently Vice Chief of the Air Staff, will be appointed as the next chief of the Air Staff on 30th September 2021. The Air Officer has a flying experience of more than 3,800 hours on a wide variety of fighter and trainer aircraft, including missions flown during Op-Meghdoot (Siachen) and Op-Safed Sagar (Kargil).
Next in the line will be Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, the present Air Officer Commanding in Chief (AoCinC) of the South Western Air Command (SWAC). He will be replacing Air Marshal Chaudhari as the new Vice Chief of the Air Staff from October 1. He had taken charge of the SWAC in May this year.
With the Air Marshal Singh moving out, Air Marshal Amit Dev will take charge as the AoC in C of the Western Air Command. Air Marshal Dev is the AoC-in-C of the Eastern Air Command (EAC). He had taken charge on October 1, 2020. The incumbent for EAC is yet to be announced.
Another Major change is into the secretariat of the Chief of Defence Staff which happens to be the Permanent Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and also the Secretary, Department of Military Affairs.
The present AoC in C Western Air Command, Air Marshal B R Krishna, will be taking charge as the new Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (CISC) to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee. He will be the Vice Chief of Defence Staff.
According to sources, the Indian Army will see a major operational reshuffle in October as well with one new Army Commander, DG Military Intelligence and three new Corps Commanders taking charge.
Lieutenant General Nav K Khanduri has been appointed as the next chief of the Indian Army's western command. The officer is the first from the Corps of Army Air Defence to have been appointed at the commander-in-chief rank in the force. He would be replacing Lt Gen RP Singh who is superannuating on October 31.
Lt General TK Aich, the present DG NCC will be new 33 Corps Commander, Let gen JB Chaudhary will be new 10 Corps Commander and Lt Gen M Singh will take charge as the new 16 Corps Commander of the Indian Army.