New Delhi: The Indian military Wednesday witnessed a major reshuffle in its senior leadership with new Vice-Chiefs in the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF), two new Army Commanders and a new Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) assuming charge.
In one of the most significant changes, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit took over as Vice-Chief of the Air Staff following the retirement of Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor, who will now head the force-backed think tank Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), as its Director General.
Commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF on 6 December 1986, Air Marshal Dixit is an experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor. He has extensive flying experience on various aircraft including the Mirage-2000, variants of MiG, HPT-32, An-32, Avro, Kiran, Jaguar, IL-78, Hawk and the Tejas.
Known as a big proponent of the Tejas and the AMCA programme, Dixit was Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) at Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS).
The Army also got a new Vice-Chief in Lt Gen Sandeep Jain, who was commissioned into the MAHAR Regiment in June 1988. Incidentally, he became the Southern Army Commander in April this year.
The Army also got two Commanders, heading the South Western and the Southern Commands.
Lieutenant General Mohit Malhotra, commissioned into the 47 Armoured Regiment in June 1989, has been appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the South Western Command.
Immediately prior to assuming command, he served as Chief of Staff, Headquarters Eastern Command.
A scholar-soldier, Lt Gen Malhotra holds two Master’s degrees in Defence Studies, including one from Kings College, London, in addition to two MPhil degrees in Political Science and Defence and Strategic Studies. He topped almost all the courses he attended.
His key staff appointments include those in operational planning, military intelligence, operational logistics, personnel management, technology absorption and strategic communications.
The other new Army Commander is Lt Gen Rajesh Pushkar, who assumed charge as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command.
He was commissioned into the 74 Armoured Regiment in December 1988. Incidentally, he assumed charge straight after relinquishing his tenure as 2 Corps, a strike corps that was activated during Operation Sindoor.
He has also served as the Indian Defence Attaché in Russia.
Another key appointment has been that of Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, who took over as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC).
Prior to his present appointment, the Air Marshal was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), South Western Air Command.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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