Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Adm ...

Vivek Ram Chaudhari, is an

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 currently serves as the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). He took over as the 27th CAS succeeding

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 retirement ...

on 30 September 2021. He earlier served as the 45th Vice Chief of the Air Staff and as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

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 ...

Early life and education

Chaudhari was born to Rambhau Ganapat Chaudhari. His mother was a school headmistress. His grandfather was a teacher at the Zila Parishad school at Koli, a village in Hadgaon taluka. He studied in primary school at

Nanded Nanded is a city in Maharashtra state, India. It is the tenth largest city in the state and the seventy-ninth most populous city in India. It is the second largest city in Marathwada region. It is the district headquarters of Nanded distr ...

. The family moved to

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

as his father started a company there. He thus did his schooling from BHEL Higher Secondary School, Ramachandrapuram, Hyderabad. He subsequently moved to

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

and enrolled in a military school. He is an alumnus of the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

(61'st Course), 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 ...

and the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – ( Indian Military Service, Indian Nav ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

(DSSC).https://www.english.lokmat.com/international/air-marshal-vivek-ram-chaudhari-to-be-next-iaf-chief/amp/

Career

Chaudhari was commissioned in the

as a fighter pilot on 29 December 1982. He is a Category 'A'

qualified flying instructor A Qualified Flying Instructor is someone who is qualified to conduct flight training for pilots. They may also have other roles in aviation, such as aircraft certification and flight reviews, depending on the jurisdiction. Every country has its own ...

, and Instrument Rating Instructor and examiner. He has a flying experience of over 3800 hours on various fighter aircraft including

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 ...

, MiG-23MF,

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the ...

and

Su-30MKI The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) is a twinjet Multirole combat aircraft, multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian A ...

. He was also a pioneer member of the

Surya Kiran Surya Kiran () is an aerobatics demonstration team of the Indian Air Force. The Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) was formed in 1996 and are a part of the 52nd Squadron of the IAF. The team has since performed numerous demonstrations usually wi ...

Aerobatic Display Team. As a fighter pilot, he flew operational missions during

Operation Meghdoot Operation Meghdoot ( "Operation Cloud Messenger" after a famous Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa) was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces' operation to seize control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, precipitating the Siachen conflict. E ...

and

Operation Safed Sagar Operation Safed Sagar ( hi, ऑपरेशन सफेद सागर, 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 aim ...

. Chaudhari has commanded the MiG-29 squadron No. 28 Squadron IAF at

Jamnagar Jamnagar () is a city located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat of Saurashtra region. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jamnagar district and the fifth largest city in Gujarat. The city lies just to the south o ...

and the forward base in Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir. He also served as the chief operations officer of the Srinagar Air Force Station.

Flag officer

As an air commodore, he served as the Air assistant to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik. He subsequently commanded the Lohegaon air base in

. He has served as an instructor at DSSC Wellington as well as Defence Services Command and Staff College at

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was about 3.3 milli ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

. After promotion to

Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by 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 u ...

, Chaudhari served as the Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence) at Air headquarters and as the Deputy Commandant at the

, Dundigul. He subsequently was appointed the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers) and later as Deputy Chief of Air Staff at Air HQ. On 1 October 2019, he was appointed Senior Air Staff Officer of the Eastern Air Command in

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a p ...

. After a short stint, on 1 August 2020, he was appointed

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief 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) , ...

Chief of Air Staff

On 21 September 2021, the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

appointed Chaudhari as the next Chief of the Air Staff after the retirement of

on 30 September 2021.

Honours and decorations

During his career, Chaudhari has been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 2004, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2015 and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2021 for his service.

Dates of rank

Personal life

He is married to Neeta Chaudhari. They have two sons. His son is also in Indian Air Force, he is a Rafale fighter jet pilot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhari, Vivek Ram Living people Chiefs of Air Staff (India) Vice Chiefs of Air Staff (India) Indian Air Force air marshals National Defence Academy (India) alumni Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Marathi people People from Nanded district 1962 births