Air Marshal Subhash Bhojwani is a former
air officer
An air officer is an air force officer of the rank of air commodore or higher. Such officers may be termed "officers of air rank". While the term originated in the Royal Air Force, air officers are also to be found in many Commonwealth nations ...
of the
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
. He last served as the
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command between 2004 and 2006.
His prior commands included those as the Commandant of
Air Force Academy, Dundigul
Indian Air Force Academy, Dundigal is a Defence Service training institute located in Medchal-Malkajgiri district from Hyderabad, in the Indian state of Telangana.
The academy was set up to train cadets from Indian Airforce Service cadre o ...
and as the Commanding Officer of 28 Squadron. He served as the Director of Air Operations (Offensive) during the 1999
Kargil War
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...
. He earned a
Mention-in-Despatches for combat operations during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the
Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Dec ...
.
Service career
Subhash Bhojwani was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 16 October 1965. As a
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the Indi ...
in the
No. 1 Squadron IAF during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, he earned a
Mentioned in Despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
for combat operations.
Bhojwani went on to become the
Commanding Officer
The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latit ...
of the
No. 28 Squadron IAF. He has served as a frontline combat pilot on a number of fighter aircraft, including the
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...
,
MiG-21
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...
,
Mirage 2000
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, 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 Air Force ('' ...
and
SEPECAT Jaguar
The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. It is still in service with the Indian Air Force.
Originally ...
.
During the
Kargil War
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...
in 1999, then
Air Commodore Bhojwani served as the Director of Air Operations (Offensive).
Following the war, he served as the
Commandant of the Air Force Academy. He was appointed the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of the
Western Air Command
, colors=
, colors_label=
, battles= 1962 Sino-Indian War, 1971 India-Pakistan War, Operation Meghdoot
, anniversaries=
, commander1= Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, AVSM, VM
, commander1_label= Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief(AOC-in-C)
, no ...
(WAC) in 2002. Air Marshal Bhojwani was appointed the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the Training Command (TC) in 2004. He retired from the Indian Air Force on 31 January 2006.
He has a post-graduate degree in Defence & Strategic Studies from the
University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...
. He was named a Fellow of the Australian College of Defence & Strategic Studies in 1997.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhojwani, Subhash
Indian Air Force air marshals
Indian Sindhi people
Indian Air Force officers
Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal