Air Marshal D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM takes over as SASO Hq WAC

Air Mshl D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM has taken over as Senior Air Staff Officer, Western Air Command.

Air Mshl D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and was commissioned on 22 Dec 1983. The Air Officer is a Fighter Combat Leader and an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner. He is an alumnus of Royal College of Defence Studies UK, a Post Graduate in Strategy and International Security from King's College London and Master of Philosophy on Defence and Strategic Studies.

He has over 5000 sorties of flying on operational fighter ac and is Fully Ops and MG on MiG-21(all variants), MiG-27, MiG-29 and Su-30 aircraft. He has commanded 15 Sqn, Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) and two frontline bases as the AOC. He has served two tenures at TACDE – first as an Instructor and then as Commandant. He has held staff appointments in Air HQ as Director Air Staff Inspection, Director Operations Joint Planning and Director Operational Planning and Assessment Group. He has served as Air-I of HQ WAC, Air Defence Commander of HQ CAC and HQ SWAC, AOC of COBRA Group and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Insp) at Air HQ (RKP). He has vast experience in fighter operations and planning at the field, operational and strategic levels. He has led three International exercises – Red Flag, Desert Eagle and Garuda. He has also authored a large number of service papers on operational matters, Air Power and Leadership, many of which have been implemented / published.

The Air Marshal was awarded the CAS commendation in Aug 1992, VishishtSeva Medal in Jan 2007, Vayu Sena Medal in Jan 2011 and AtiVishishtSeva Medal in Jan 2018.