Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh, who has more than 5,000 hours of flying experience, will be the next chief of the Indian Air Force, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari.

Singh, currently serving as the Vice Chief of Air Staff, will take charge of the force on the afternoon of September 30, the defence ministry said.

"The government has appointed Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh, PVSM, AVSM, presently serving as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, as the next Chief of the Air Staff, in the rank of Air Chief Marshal, with effect from the afternoon of September 30," it said.

Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari will retire from service on September 30.

Born on October 27, 1964, Air Marshal Singh was commissioned into the fighter pilot stream of the Indian Air Force in December 1984.

During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 40 years, he has served in a variety of command, staff, instructional and foreign appointments.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College, the air officer 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.

The officer has commanded an operational fighter squadron and a frontline air base.

As a test pilot, he led the MiG-29 upgrade project management team in Moscow.

He was also the project director (flight test) at the National Flight Test Centre and was tasked with flight testing of the light combat aircraft, Tejas.

Air Marshal Singh has held important staff appointments of the Air Defence Commander at the South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at the Eastern Air Command.

Prior to assuming the charge of the Vice Chief of Air Staff, he was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Central Air Command.

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