Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria

R K S Bhadauria
Air Chief Marshal; R K S Bhadauria; PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC
26th Chief of the Air Staff
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 30 September 2019
President	Ram Nath Kovind
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Birender Singh Dhanoa
42nd Vice Chief of the Air Staff
	In office; 1 May 2019 – 30 September 2019
Preceded by	Anil Khosla
Succeeded by	Harjit Singh Arora
Personal details
Spouse(s)	Asha Bhadauria
Military service
Allegiance	India
Branch/service	Indian Air Force
Years of service	15 June 1980 - Current
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Commands	Chief of the Air Staff; Vice Chief of the Air Staff; Training Command; Southern Air Command; Deputy Chief of Air Staff
Service number	16026[1]
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal ; Ati Vishisht Seva Medal; Vayu Sena Medal

Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC is the current Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force and assumed office on 30 September 2019 after superannuation of Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa.[2][3]

Early life and education

Bhadauria is from Korath, a village of tahsil Bah near Agra.[4][5] He is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Pune and holds a Masters in Defence studies from Command and Staff College.[6]

Career

Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 15 June 1980 with the Sword of Honour. He has clocked over 4250 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; 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.[7][8][9]

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.[7][6][10][11]

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.[12][13]

He took office of Vice Chief of the Air Staff on 1 May 2019 after superannuation of Air Marshal Anil Khosla.[14][15]

On 19 September 2019 he was appointed as the Chief of Air Staff.[16]

Awards and medals

During 39 years of his career, Bhadauria has been awarded several medals: the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2013), the Vayu Sena Medal (January 2002).[7][1] and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2018).[17] He was appointed as the honorary air force ADC to the President of India on 1 January 2019.[3]

Param Vishisht Seva Medal	Ati Vishisht Seva Medal	Vayusena Medal

Personal life

He is married to Asha Bhadauria and they have two children.[6]

Gallery

IAF Chief ACM RKS Bhaduria undertaking sortie on Tejas from SQ45 during SQ 18 commissioning ceremony.
ACM RKS Bhaduria with SQ45 CO Samrat Dhankar during SQ 18 commissioning ceremony
IAF Chief RKS Bhaduria handing over ceremonial key to SQ 18 CO Manish Tolani

References

"President Confers Gallantry and Distinguished Service Awards". 27 April 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
@IAF_MCC (30 September 2019). "Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, took over as 26th Chief of the Indian Air Force today. He was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF in Jun 1980" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
"Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria takes over as the 26th Chief of the Air Staff" (Press release). Press Information Bureau. 30 September 2019.
https://www.amarujala.com/photo-gallery/uttar-pradesh/agra/air-marshal-rakesh-kumar-singh-bhadauria-success-untold-story
"SP's Aviation - May 2019 Digital Magazine from Magzter - World's Largest Digital Newsstand". Magzter. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
"New Southern Air Command chief takes charge". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
"Dy Chief of IAF Bhadauria new AOC-in-Chief of Southern Command | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
"Air Marshal R K Singh Bhadauria takes over as Deputy Chief of Air Staff". The Economic Times. 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
"Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 12 October 2017.
"SOUTHERN AIR COMMAND". indianairforce.nic.in. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
Reporter, Staff; Reporter, Staff (9 October 2017). "Shower of warmth at Kovind's maiden visit". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
"New chief of IAF Training Command". 3 August 2018.
"IAF training chief SRK Nair retires". 31 July 2018.
@IAF_MCC (1 May 2019). "Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria took over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff today. He took over from Air Marshal Anil Khosla, who superannuated on 30 Apr 19 after 39 years of glorious service" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
"Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC Takes Over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff" (Press release). Press Information Bureau. 1 May 2019.
"Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria appointed as new Indian Air Force chief". India Today. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
"390 Republic Day Gallantry and Other Defence Decorations Announced".

Military offices
Preceded by Birender Singh Dhanoa	Chief of Air Staff 30 September 2019 - Present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Anil Khosla	Vice Chief of Air Staff 1 May 2019 - 30 September 2019	Succeeded by Harjit Singh Arora
Preceded by S R K Nair	Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command 1 August 2018 - 30 April 2019	Succeeded by Surendra Kumar Ghotia
Preceded by Sunderraman Neelakantan	Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command 1 March 2017 - 31 July 2018	Succeeded by Balakrishnan Suresh
Preceded by Shyam Bihari Prasad Sinha	Deputy Chief of Air Staff 1 January 2016 - 28 February 2017	Succeeded by Raghunath Nambiar
Preceded by KS Gill	Commandant of the National Defence Academy 1 August 2014 - 30 January 2015	Succeeded by G Ashok Kumar

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[avsm-1] "President Confers Gallantry and Distinguished Service Awards". 27 April 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[2] @IAF_MCC (30 September 2019). "Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, took over as 26th Chief of the Indian Air Force today. He was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF in Jun 1980" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[cas-office-pib-3] "Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria takes over as the 26th Chief of the Air Staff" (Press release). Press Information Bureau. 30 September 2019.

[4] ttps://www.amarujala.com/photo-gallery/uttar-pradesh/agra/air-marshal-rakesh-kumar-singh-bhadauria-success-untold-story

[5] "SP's Aviation - May 2019 Digital Magazine from Magzter - World's Largest Digital Newsstand". Magzter. Retrieved 19 September 2019.

[:1-6] "New Southern Air Command chief takes charge". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[:0-7] "Dy Chief of IAF Bhadauria new AOC-in-Chief of Southern Command | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[8] "Air Marshal R K Singh Bhadauria takes over as Deputy Chief of Air Staff". The Economic Times. 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[9] "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[10] "SOUTHERN AIR COMMAND". indianairforce.nic.in. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[11] Reporter, Staff; Reporter, Staff (9 October 2017). "Shower of warmth at Kovind's maiden visit". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[12] "New chief of IAF Training Command". 3 August 2018.

[13] "IAF training chief SRK Nair retires". 31 July 2018.

[14] @IAF_MCC (1 May 2019). "Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria took over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff today. He took over from Air Marshal Anil Khosla, who superannuated on 30 Apr 19 after 39 years of glorious service" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[15] "Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC Takes Over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff" (Press release). Press Information Bureau. 1 May 2019.

[16] "Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria appointed as new Indian Air Force chief". India Today. Retrieved 19 September 2019.

[17] "390 Republic Day Gallantry and Other Defence Decorations Announced".

Chief of the Air Staff
Chief of the Air Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Air Force (1950–1955)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman Gerald Gibbs** Subroto Mukerjee
Chief of the Air Staff (1955–present)	Subroto Mukerjee Aspy Engineer Arjan Singh Pratap Chandra Lal Om Prakash Mehra Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Idris Hasan Latif Dilbagh Singh Lakshman Madhav Katre Denis La Fontaine Surinder Mehra Nirmal Chandra Suri Swaroop Kaul Satish Kumar Sareen Anil Tipnis Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Shashindra Pal Tyagi Fali Homi Major Pradeep Vasant Naik Norman Anil Kumar Browne Arup Raha Birender Singh Dhanoa Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria (incumbent)
(**Seconded from the Royal Air Force)