Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit has been appointed as the next Chief of the Air Staff and will take charge in the substantive rank of Air Chief Marshal from October 31, 2026.
According to the official notification, Dixit will serve as Chief of the Air Staff until December 31, 2028. The appointment has received the approval of the President of India.
Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit appointed as the new Chief of the Indian Air Force.
The Air Marshal has extensive flying experience on various aircraft, including Mirage-2000, variants of MiG, HPT-32, An-32, Avro, Kiran, Jaguar, IL-78, Hawk, and Tejas. He is an Experimental Test Pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor. During his service career, spanning approx four decades, he has been actively involved in numerous operations and exercises, viz. Op Safed Sagar, Op Rakshak, Cope-India and Op Sindoor. Widely known for pushing the indigenous LCA Tejas and other indigenous aircraft projects in the force, Air Marshal Dixit is expected to further promote the Aatmanirbharta initiative of the government. He was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF on 06 December 1986 and is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Defence Staff Service College (Bangladesh) and National Defence College with more than 3500 hours of flying.
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— ANI (@ANI) October 6, 2026
Dixit has been closely involved in the induction and development of the indigenous LCA Tejas as well as other aircraft programmes. His experience is expected to support the government’s focus on Aatmanirbharta in the defence sector, news agency ANI reported.
He was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 6, 1986. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College in Bangladesh and the National Defence College, Dixit has accumulated more than 3,500 hours of flying experience.
He holds the distinctions of PVSM, AVSM, VM and VSM. His appointment will take effect from the afternoon of October 31, 2026, marking his elevation to the top position in the Indian Air Force.
