Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, PVSM,
AVSM, VM (retd), an alumnus of the National Defence
Academy, Pune was commissioned as a fighter pilot on 29
December 1982. A Category 'A' qualified flying instructor,
and Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner, he has a
flying experience of over 3800 hours on various fighter
aircraft including MiG-21, MiG-23MF, MiG-29 and Su-
30MKI. He was also a pioneer member of the Surya Kiran
Aerobatic Display Team. He has commanded the MiG-29
squadron at Jamnagar and the forward base in Awantipora
in Jammu and Kashmir. He also served as the chief
operations officer of the Srinagar Air Force Station and later
commanded the Lohegaon Airbase in Pune. On 1 August
2020, he took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-
Chief Western Air Command, and went on to become the
27th Chief of the Air Staff on 30 September 2021
