New Delhi, 6 October 2026: Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM, an experimental test pilot and fighter leader with more than 3,500 flying hours, has been appointed the next Chief of the Air Staff. He will assume the substantive rank of Air Chief Marshal from the afternoon of 31 October 2026 and hold the appointment until 31 December 2028.
The appointment follows the approval of the President, conveyed in a communication dated 6 October 2026 from New Delhi and addressed to the Chief of the Air Staff at Air Headquarters, Vayu Bhawan. The letter records the approval for the appointment of Air Marshal Dixit as the next Chief of the Air Staff, with effect from the afternoon of 31 October 2026, for a tenure up to 31 December 2028.
He will succeed Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, PVSM, AVSM, the 28th Chief of the Air Staff, who assumed office on 30 September 2024 and is due to superannuate on 31 October 2026. Air Marshal Dixit is at present the 51st Vice Chief of the Air Staff, an appointment he has held since 1 July 2026.
Commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 6 December 1986, Air Marshal Dixit is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College in Bangladesh, and the National Defence College. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an Experimental Test Pilot. According to the official record issued on his assumption of office as Vice Chief, he has logged more than 3,500 flying hours on the Mirage-2000, variants of the MiG, Jaguar, Tejas, Hawk, IL-78, An-32, Avro, Kiran and HPT-32.
His operational and test career has included command of No. 9 Squadron during its re-equipment with the Mirage-2000, instructional duties as Directing Staff at the Air Force Test Pilots School, and command of the Flight Test Squadron at the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, Bengaluru. In the test role he was associated with indigenous upgrade programmes, including avionics upgrades of the Jaguar and MiG-27. He has also been credited with participation in Operation Safed Sagar during the Kargil conflict and in Operation Rakshak. As Director of Air Staff Requirements, he was closely involved in the planning and conduct of the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft trials.
At Air Headquarters he has held the appointments of Principal Director of Air Staff Requirements, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects) and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plans). He has also served as Air Defence Commander of Southern Air Command. Promoted to the rank of Air Marshal on 1 October 2022, he was Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters South Western Air Command before taking over as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff on 15 May 2023.
It was during his tenure as Deputy Chief that several indigenous combat-aircraft programmes, including the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk-1A, Tejas Mk-2 and the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, recorded significant forward movement. He has remained associated with these programmes in later appointments, including a review of the Tejas Mk-1A and other indigenous aviation projects at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bengaluru. His elevation is therefore expected to reinforce the Indian Air Force’s emphasis on Aatmanirbharta in combat aviation, aero-engines and related capability development.
He subsequently commanded Central Air Command as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief from 1 September 2024 to 30 April 2025. On 1 May 2025 he assumed charge as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, and served in that tri-service appointment until 30 June 2026. That tenure covered coordination during Operation Sindoor and the release of a series of joint doctrines aimed at institutionalising tri-service planning. He took over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff on 1 July 2026, succeeding Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor.
In recognition of his service, Air Marshal Dixit has been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 2006, the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2011, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2023 and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2026.
He will take over the Air Force at a time when the Service is balancing operational readiness with the induction of indigenous fighters, progress on next-generation combat aircraft, and closer integration with the Army and the Navy. His record as a test pilot, force planner and proponent of indigenous programmes places him at the centre of that transition for a tenure running to 31 December 2028.
