New Delhi: With only nine days left for Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, to retire from service, the government announced Saturday the appointment of Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh as the next CAS.
He will take over as chief from the afternoon of 30 September, 2024.
Born in 1964, Air Marshal A.P. Singh was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream in December 1984. During his service spanning nearly 40 years, he has served in a variety of command, staff, instructional and foreign appointments.
He is a qualified flying instructor and an experimental test pilot with more than 5,000 hours of flying experience on a variety of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. He has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base. As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team at Moscow, Russia, according to a press statement.
He was also the Project Director (Flight Test) at National Flight Test Centre and was tasked with flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
He has held important staff appointments such as Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command (SWAC) and Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at Eastern Air Command (EAC). SASO is in charge of Command Operations. Before assuming the charge of Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command.
Speaking to ThePrint, a retired officer, who was the Commander in Chief of the EAC when Singh held the second senior-most appointment as SASO there, said that the Air Marshal “always excelled” in all the duties he carried out. He added that Air Marshal Singh always sported a “dynamic personality and professionalism”.
The retired officer added that Air Marshal Singh, due to his attention to detail, allowed overall tasks assigned to the EAC to be undertaken in the most apt manner and to the satisfaction of all concerned. These included peacetime tasks, Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR), or formulation of war plans for optimum utilisation of resources.
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‘Fitness & fighter aircraft most important to him’
Air Marshal Singh is remembered as someone who excelled in all the courses he underwent as an officer.
Apart from his professional dynamism, he’s also known for his passion for food, fashion, fitness and sports.
Sources close to Air Marshal Singh said that he is also an excellent chef. “He cooks lovely tandoori chicken and chicken steak,” said a source. He is known to make time for cooking whenever possible. The source added that Air Marshal Singh’s wife, Dolly Singh, has always been a great support to him, describing the two as “happy-go-lucky and down-to-earth”.
The source added that the couple is known to complement each other’s outfits whenever they partake in a gathering or a party.
Air Marshal Singh is an avid squash player and a fitness enthusiast. Few years ago, when he was posted in Shillong, he used to go trekking regularly. In fact, he “led the treks from the front”.
The source, while speaking to ThePrint said that the two most important things that Singh believes in are physical fitness and flying fighter aircraft. He is a hardened flyer, the source said.
Extending his support to indigenisation, Air Marshal Singh, along with the vice chiefs of army and navy, took to the skies in the light combat aircraft Tejas in Jodhpur during the recently concluded Tarang Shakti exercise. The VCAS flew the lead fighter. In July, he had however underlined that while atmanirbharta was important, it cannot be at the cost of India’s defence.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhari)
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