Indian Air Force (IAF) got a new Vice Chief as well as thenew commander of the South Western Air Command on Tuesday. While Air MarshalHarjit Singh Arora (AVSM, ADC) is the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air MarshalSurendra Kumar Ghotia (VSM) took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of thecrucial arm of the IAF.

Air Marshal Arora was commissioned in the IAF as a fighterpilot in December 1981 and has flown several aircraft in the force's inventoryfor over 2,600 hours including Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, MiG-29 and other combatas well as transport planes, including helicopters. The highly decoratedofficer is a graduate of Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment,Defence Service Staff College and National Defence College. He also holdsMaster of Science in Defence Studies and Master of Philosophy in Defence andStrategic Studies.

Air Marshal Arora has commanded a MiG-21 Squadron in theSouth Western sector and was later Commander of Air Defence Direction Centre inthe same sector. He went on to command a premier MiG-29 Base and as an Air ViceMarshal, he was the Air Defence Commander at Headquarters Western Air Commandand Eastern Air Command.

As an Air Marshal, he has held the appointments of DirectorGeneral (Inspection and Safety) and Director General Air (Operations) at AirHQ. Before taking over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, he was Air OfficerCommanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command. He has been a Directing Staffat ‘Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment’ and a Flying Inspector inthe ‘Directorate of Air Staff Inspection’. He was Defence Attaché in theEmbassy of India, Bangkok, Thailand from 2006 to 2009.

For his distinguished service, Air Marshal Arora was awarded'Ati Vishisht Seva Medal' by the President of India on January 26, 2011. He wasalso appointed as the Honorary Air Force ADC to the President of India. He ismarried to Mrs Baljeet Kaur Arora and they have two sons.

New South Western Air Commander

Air Marshal Ghotia is an alumnus of the National Defence Academyand was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on December 11, 1981, and hasflown different aircraft with the force for over 3,000 hours. He is a QualifiedFlying Instructor with more than 1000 hours of instructional experience. He hasundergone the Air Staff Course, Higher Air Command Course and holds two MastersDegrees. He has served as a Directing Staff at the prestigious Defence ServicesStaff College Wellington.

Air Marshal Ghotia has served as the Commanding Officer of afighter squadron, Chief Operations Officer and Station Commander of a ForwardAir Base in South Western Air Command. He has also served in a number of Staff appointments, including DirectorIntelligence at Air Headquarters, Ops 1A of Western Air Command, PrincipalDirector Training (Flying) at Air HQs, Air Attache at Embassy of India, Paris,Air Officer Commanding COBRA Group and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff(Intelligence). Prior to assuming the present appointment, he was the SeniorAir Staff Officer of Training Command.

During his illustrious career, the Air Marshal was commendedby the Air Officer Commanding-In-Chief, Western Air Command in 1994 and awardedVishist Seva Medal in 2007.

He is married to Mrs Nirmala Ghotia and they have twodaughters.