Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit appointed new IAF chief.
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday appointed Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit as the next Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). He will be the 29th officer to head the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Dixit, who is the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, will be promoted to the rank of Air Chief Marshal and take charge on the afternoon of October 31. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, who retires from service on the same day.
Who is Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit?
Born on December 9, 1966, Dixit was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on December 6, 1986. He studied at the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Command and Staff College in Bangladesh and the National Defence College in New Delhi.
He has logged more than 3,500 flying hours on aircraft including the Mirage-2000, several MiG variants, Kiran, Jaguar, IL-78, Hawk and Tejas. He is also an experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor.
Before becoming Vice Chief, he served as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, at Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff. He also headed the IAF’s Central Air Command as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief.
His field commands include a frontline fighter air base in the Western Sector and a premier fighter training base in the Southern Sector.
Operations and honours
Over a service of nearly four decades, Dixit has taken part in several operations and exercises, among them Op Safed Sagar, Op Rakshak and Op Sindoor. Safed Sagar was the IAF’s air operation during the 1999 Kargil conflict, while Sindoor refers to the strikes India carried out in May 2025 after the Pahalgam terror attack.
He received 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.
Background
The CAS is the professional head of the IAF and advises the government on air power. Under the current rules, a service chief serves three years or until the age of 62, whichever is earlier. Dixit turns 62 in December 2028, so his tenure could run for about two years.
His appointment comes as the IAF works to arrest the decline in its fighter squadron strength and to induct more indigenous platforms, including the Tejas Mk1A. His experience as a test pilot and as a Tejas pilot is likely to count in managing those programmes.
