Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit,

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime ...

, VM, VSM is a serving officer of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

. He is currently serving as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. He assumed the post on 1 May 2025 after the superannuation of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Johnson P Mathew. He was previously serving as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Air Command , prior to that he served as the Senior Air Staff Officer, South Western Air Command.

Early life and education

He is an alumnus of

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and the

Air Force Academy An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air forc ...

Dundigal Dundigal, officially Dundigal Gandimaisamma, is a mandal and a municipality in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the Dundigal mandal in the Malkajgiri revenue division of Medchal-Malkaj ...

. He is also an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and National Defence College and National Defence College,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Career

Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the

on 6 December 1986 from the

, Dundigal. During his illustrious career spanning more than 37 years, the Air Officer has held several significant field and staff appointments. The Air Officer is an experimental test pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor with more than 3300 hours of flying experience on a variety of aircraft in the IAF inventory. He has participated in

Operation Rakshak Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation ''Rakshak'', which began in 1990, Operation ''Sarp Vinash'' in 2003 and Operation ''Randori Behak'' in ''2020''. Other operations include humanitarian m ...

and

Operation Safed Sagar Operation Safed Sagar (, lit. "Operation White Ocean") was the code name assigned to the Indian Air Force's role in acting jointly with the Indian Army during the 1999 Kargil war that was aimed at flushing out regular and irregular troops o ...

during the

Kargil War The Kargil War, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Ladakh, then part of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC). In In ...

. As a Commanding Officer, he re-equipped one of the Squadrons of

with the state-of-the-art Mirage aircraft and later commanded a front-line fighter air base in the Western Sector and a premiere fighter training base in the Southern Sector. He has extensive flying experience primarily on

Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, delta wing, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French ...

. He served as the Commanding officer of No. 9 Squadron as well as the Flying Training School in

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. He has also served as a Directing Staff at the Air Force Test Pilots School. As

Air Commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

, he served as the Principal Director for Air Staff Requirements at the Air Headquarter,

and later served as the Air Officer Commanding of

Air Force Station Bidar Bidar Air Force Station, () (), is a second largest flight training center in India. It is established by the Indian Air Force and It was founded during World War II and has been a training center for Indian Air Force pilots since 1963. Train ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. As

Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries which have historical British infl ...

, he served as the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Air Headquarter,

. Later, he served as the Air Defence Commander of the Southern Air Command,

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the largest and ...

and Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Plans at the Air Headquarters,

. After being promoted to the rank of Air Marshal in October 2021, he served as the Senior Air Staff Officer, South Western Air Command till 14 May 2023. On 15 May 2023, he took over as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari. As the Deputy Chief of Air Staff in Air Headquarters, Dixit played a critical role in pushing forward the Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) initiative of the defence forces. He has headed several projects with the adaption of future technologies and worked towards ensuring that the IAF achieves modernization while maintaining a steady focus on 'Aatmanirbharta Self Reliance. A number of indigenous aircraft projects including LCA Mark-1A, Mark-2 and AMCA have seen significant forward movement during his tenure as Deputy Chief. On 1 September 2024, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit took over as the

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

Central Air Command Central Air Command may refer to: * Central Air Command (India), one of five operational commands of the Indian Air Force * Central Air Command (Pakistan), one of five operational commands of the Pakistan Air Force *Central Air Command (Sweden), on ...

succeeding Air Marshal Ravi Gopal Krishana Kapoor who superannuated from service on 31 August 2024.

Honours and decorations

During his career, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit has been awarded the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime D ...

in 2023,

Vayu Sena Medal The Vayu Sena Medal () is a military decoration, usually awarded in peacetime for a job well done in the Indian Air Force. However, it has been granted during times of conflict for acts of gallantry in the face of enemy, though not in the same n ...

in 2006 and

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM, ) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize ex ...

in 2011 for his service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixit, Ashutosh Living people Indian Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Vayu Sena Medal Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Year of birth missing (living people) Deputy chiefs of Air Staff (India)