Air Marshal HS Arora Appointed New IAF Vice Chief, B Suresh Moves to Head Western Command

NEW DELHI: In a reshuffle in the top brass of the force, Air Marshal HS Arora has been appointed as the Vice Chief of Indian Air Force (IAF).
He will succeed Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria who will take over as the Chief of Air Staff on September 30. Arora currently heads the Gandhinagar headquartered South Western Air Command of the Air Force.

Meanwhile, Air Marshal B Suresh has been appointed as Western Air Commander of the Air Force, in New Delhi. Suresh will succeed Kargil war hero Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar on October 31. He is the incumbent AOC-in-C of Southern Air Command.
Arora was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in Dec 1981. He has rich and diverse experience of accident-free operational flying which includes MiG 21, MiG 29 and other aircraft in IAF inventory, including helicopters.
He was deputed as Defence Attache at the Embassy of India, Bangkok, Thailand from 2006 to 2009.
He commanded 45 Squadron as a Wing Commander and later was Commander of an Air Defence Direction Centre in Western Sector. He is a meritorious graduate of Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College and is Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies.
In recognition of his distinguished service, he was commended by the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief in 1997 and was awarded Ati Vishist Seva Medal on 26 Jan 2011 by the President of India.
On the other hand, B Suresh is a graduate of the ‘Rashtriya Indian Military College’, Dehradun and ‘National Defence Academy’ Kharakvasla. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force on December 13, 1980.
He is a Sword of Honour awardee from the ‘Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment’ (TACDE), a graduate of the ‘Defence Services Staff College’ Wellington and a post-graduate from Cranfield University, Shrivenham UK.

He has held a number of staff appointments that include Joint Director and Director (Air Staff Inspection), Director Operations (Joint Planning), Directing Staff and Commandant TACDE, Air Assistant to Chief of Air Staff (AA to CAS), Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence) [ACAS Ops (AD)], Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO), Western Air Command and Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel (AOP) at Air Headquarters.
Suresh is a recipient of two AOC-in-C’s commendations, the ‘Vayu Sena Medal’, the ‘Ati Vishisht Seva Medal’ and the ‘Param Vishisht Seva Medal’. He is appointed as Honourary Air ADC to the Honourable President of India.

Source: The News Mill

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