SHILLONG: Air Marshal VR Chaudhari AVSM VM on Thursday took over as Senior Air Staff Officer of Head Quarters Eastern Air Command (EAC). Prior to taking over his new assignment, he was the Deputy Chief of Air Staff at Air HQ (Vayu Bhawan), New Delhi.
Chaudhari — who happens to be an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned into IAF’s Fighter Stream on December 29, 1982 — has flown various aircraft and is experienced on MiG-21, MiG-23MF, MiG-29 and SU-30MKI, and has flown over 3800 hrs.
Chaudhuri is also a Cat ‘A’ Qualified Flying Instructor, a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College and an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner. He also has a rich expertise of operational flying and has undertaken numerous Air Defence missions during Op-Meghdoot and Op-Safed Sagar.
The Air Officer, who has also been an Air Force Examiner on several types of fighter and trainer aircraft, has commanded a MiG-29 Squadron and served as the Chief Operations Officer of 1 Wing.
He has commanded a forward base and has done tenures as an instructor at DSSC in Wellington as well as DSCSC in Zambia. He has also held key appointments of Deputy Commandant, Air Force Academy, ACAS Ops (AD) and ACAS (PO), among other achievements.
In recognition for his meritorious services of an exceptionally high order, the Air Marshal has also been awarded with Vayu Sena Medal and Ati Vishist Seva Medal for his service.
