समाचार Samāchār · Defence · 31 October 2026

Ashutosh Dixit takes command of the IAF. His job is to turn orders into squadrons

A test pilot and former Vice Chief becomes the 29th Chief of the Air Staff as AP Singh retires after 42 years. The fighter gap is the first file on his desk.

The Indian Air Force has a new chief. Air Chief Marshal Ashutosh Dixit took charge as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff on 31 October. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, who retired after 42 years of service. Singh laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in New Delhi and received a farewell Guard of Honour.

Dixit comes from the cockpit. He was commissioned into the fighter stream on 6 December 1986 and is a National Defence Academy alumnus. He is an experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor with more than 3,300 flying hours. Reports list the Mirage-2000, Jaguar, Hawk, IL-78 and the indigenous Tejas among the types he has flown. He was Vice Chief of the Air Staff until now. Before that he was Chief of Integrated Defence Staff and led Central Air Command. Business Today and ZoomNews report that he served in Operation Safed Sagar, Operation Rakshak and Operation Sindoor.

Credit is due to AP Singh. Reports describe him as the last of Operation Sindoor’s top military commanders to retire. Four decades in uniform is a long watch. The service he hands over has fought, and it has learnt from that अनुभव Anubhav.

The problem Dixit inherits is arithmetic. The IAF is sanctioned 42 fighter squadrons. ThePrint reported the count at 29 when the MiG-21 retired in September 2025. 180 Tejas Mk-1A jets are on order, and deliveries have run behind. Reports name the fighter fleet, induction delays and indigenous programmes as his first priorities. The answer is not another order. It is a production line that delivers on schedule, with the engine supply to match.

The longer view is the same. Keep AMCA on track. Join a sixth-generation programme as a co-developer, not a buyer. Co-produce now, be self-reliant by the 2030s and export to pay for it. A chief who has tested aircraft is well placed to hold industry to dates.

What a founder takes from it: A chief who has flown Tejas and tested aircraft knows where programmes slip. For founders in aerospace parts, avionics and maintenance, the next three years are about delivery rates, not new announcements. Get qualified with HAL and its suppliers now.