Ashutosh Dixit becomes new Air Force chief, tenure till 2028:Kargil War veteran an expert in flying 20 types of fighter aircraft

Ashutosh Dixit will be the new Chief of the Air Staff. He will take charge as Air Chief Marshal on October 31. He is currently the Vice Chief of the Air Staff and assumed the post on July 1, 2026. Ashutosh Dixit also took part in the Kargil War. He dropped bombs on infiltrators from a fighter jet. He is trained to fly 20 types of fighter aircraft. Will replace Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh Ashutosh Dixit will replace Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh. Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh became the Chief of the Air Staff on September 30, 2024. He is retiring on October 31. He has also commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base. Air Marshal Dixit has flown over 3,500 hours Air Marshal Dixit has around 40 years of service experience. He has flown several aircraft, including the Mirage-2000, different variants of the MiG, Jaguar, Tejas, Hawk, IL-78, AN-32, Kiran, HPT-32 and Avro. He is also an Experimental Test Pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor. He has flown more than 3,500 hours so far. He has participated in operations and military exercises including Operation Safed Sagar, Operation Rakshak, Cope India and Operation Sindoor. He also played a key role in advancing the indigenous LCA Tejas and other indigenous aircraft projects in the Indian Air Force. Air Marshal Dixit was commissioned into the IAF’s Fighter Stream on December 6, 1986. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College in Bangladesh and the National Defence College. Air Marshal Dixit is an Air Force test pilot Ashutosh Dixit is a test pilot in the Indian Air Force. Test pilots are considered among the most skilled pilots. Their job is to test aircraft by pushing them to their operational limits. Whenever a new aircraft is inducted into the armed forces, a test pilot is the first to fly it. During the flight, they check the aircraft’s controls, stability and technical glitches. They also test the coordination of new radars, missiles and electronic systems installed on the aircraft. They give the go-ahead for an aircraft to be inducted into the Air Force fleet. Only senior pilots with hundreds of hours of flying experience in the Air Force are selected as test pilots. The role also requires an understanding of aerospace engineering or science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As part of the test, pilots are asked to fly aircraft they have never flown before. They are considered the Air Force’s top guns because they work in high-risk situations.