Air Marshal Surendra Kumar Ghotia,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

, VSM is a retired officer 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 served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C),

South Western Air Command Victory embraces the brave , colors= , colors_label= , battles= Atlantique incident, Bhuj earthquake relief, 2001, Gujarat flood relief, 2005 , anniversaries= , commander1= Air Marshal Vikram Singh, VSM , commander1_label= Air Officer Co ...

till 30 April 2021. He assumed the office on 1 October 2019 following Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora's elevation to Vice Chief of the Air Staff. He superannuated on 30 April 2021 after almost 40 years of service. He was succeeded by Air Marshal

Sandeep Singh Sandeep Singh (born 27 February 1986) is an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national hockey team. He generally features as a full back and is a penalty corner specialist for the team. He ...

Early life and education

Ghotia is an alumnus of National Defence Academy Khadakwasla. He has undergone Air Staff course at Defence Services Staff College Wellington as well as Higher Air Command course at

College of Air Warfare College of Air Warfare (CAW) is a defence service training institution of the Indian Air Force. The college conducts courses and programmes in the art of Joint Warfare, with special emphasis on employment of Air Power. The functional and the ad ...

Secunderabad. He holds two master's degrees.

Career

Ghotia was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in December 1981. He has over 3000 hours of flying experience on different aircraft. He is also a qualified instructor with instructional experience of more than 1000 hours. His various field appointments include commanding a fighter squadron, chief operations officer, and station commander of a forward air base in South Western Air Command. He has served in a number of staff appointments including director intelligence at Air Headquarters, staff officer of fighter operations in Western Air Command, principal director training (flying) at Air Headquarters, assistant chief of air staff (intelligence), air officer commanding of COBRA group, and air attache at embassy of India in Paris. Ghotia assumed office of Senior Air Staff Officer, Training Command on 20 June 2016 and served in that capacity till his appointment as AOC-in-C, Training Command. He served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command from 1 May 2019 succeeding Air Marshal

Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria (born 15 September 1959), is a retired Indian Air Force officer, who served as the Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, having assumed office on 30 September 2019 after the retirem ...

, to 30 September 2019.

Honours and decorations

During his career, Ghotia has been awarded the commendation by Air Officer Commanding-in-chief, Western Air Command in 1994, commendation by Chief of Air Staff in 1998, Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) in 2007, and Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) in January 2020 for his service.

Personal life

He is married to Nirmala Ghotia who served as the President of Air Force Wives Welfare Association (Regional), and they have two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghotia, Surendra Kumar Living people Indian Air Force air marshals National Defence Academy (India) alumni Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Year of birth missing (living people) Indian air attachés College of Air Warfare alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni