Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British i ...

Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria (born 15 September 1959), is a retired

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 ...

officer, who served as the Chief of the Air Staff of the

, having assumed office on 30 September 2019 after the retirement of

Birender Singh Dhanoa. He retired on 30 September 2021 and was succeeded by

Vivek Ram Chaudhari Air chief marshal (India), Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, is a retired four-star air officer of the Indian Air Force who served as the Chief of the Air Staff (India), Chief of the Air Staff. He took over as the 27th Chief of the Air St ...

Early life and education

Bhadauria is from Korath, a village of tahsil Bah District

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

. He is born in a

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

family. His father, Suraj Pal Singh Bhadauria, too served in the

as a Senior Non Commissioned Officer and retired with the rank of Master Warrant Officer. Bhadauria is an alumnus of

Defence Services Command and Staff College The Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) is situated at Batalanda, Makola (South) 12 Kilometers away from Colombo and its aim to develop the professional knowledge and understanding of experienced officers of the Sri Lanka Army, Sr ...

Bangladesh,

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 holds a Masters in Defence studies from Command and Staff College.

Career

Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the

on 15 June 1980 with the Sword of Honour. He has clocked over 4,250 hours of flying and has experience on 26 different types of fighter jets and transport aircraft. He held several key operational and administrative appointments at various stages of his service including Commander of a Jaguar Squadron at a front line base in South-Western sector; Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft and System Testing Establishment; Chief Test Pilot and Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on the Tejas LCA project; Air Attache in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

; Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects); Commandant of the National Defence Academy; Senior Air Staff Officer at Central Air Command and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (1 January 2016 - 28 February 2017). He is also an experimental Test Pilot, a Category A qualified Flying Instructor and a Pilot Attack Instructor. Bhadauria served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Southern Air Command from 1 March 2017, succeeding Air Marshal Sunderraman Neelakantan, to 1 August 2018. He also served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command from 1 August 2018 after retirement of Air Marshal S R K Nair, and held the office till his elevation to the Vice Chief of the Air Staff. He took office of Vice Chief of the Air Staff on 1 May 2019 after the retirement of Air Marshal Anil Khosla. On 19 September 2019 he was appointed as the Chief of Air Staff. He retired on 30 September 2021.

Political Career

On 24 March 2024, he joined the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

in the presence of

Vinod Tawde Vinod Sridhar Tawde (Marathi pronunciation: �inoːd̪ t̪aːʋɖeː born 20 July 1963) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was the General Secretary for Maharashtra unit of the p ...

, Vishal Singh and

Anurag Thakur Anurag Singh Thakur (born 24 October 1974) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. He was former Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of ...

Personal life

His father Honourary Flight Lieutenant (MWO) Suraj Pal Singh Bhadauria was also from

and a recipient of

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 ...

Awards and decorations

During 41 years of his career, Bhadauria has been awarded several medals: 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 ...

(January 2013), the

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 ...

(January 2002). and the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

(January 2018). He was appointed as the honorary air force ADC to the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

on 1 January 2019. He was inducted into Mirpur Hall of Fame at

, Bangladesh.

Dates of rank

References

Notes

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhadauria, Rakesh Kumar Singh Living people Chiefs of the Air Staff (India) Vice chiefs of Air Staff (India) Commandants of the National Defence Academy Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Vayu Sena Medal National Defence Academy (India) alumni 1959 births Air attachés for India Deputy chiefs of Air Staff (India) Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh People from Agra