Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit on Wednesday took over as Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force, while Lt Gen Sandeep Jain assumed charge as the Vice Chief of the Army.
Lt Gen Jain, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, was commissioned into the MAHAR Regiment in June 1988. He has nearly four decades of service and has held a wide range of command and staff appointments across diverse operational environments.
Lt Gen Jain has commanded an Infantry Battalion, served with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan, and led an infantry brigade in a Strike Corps, a Counter Insurgency Force and a Pivot Corps in the Northern Command.
His operational experience includes participation in Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka, besides multiple tenures in high-altitude areas and counter-insurgency operations along the Line of Control and in the North East. Lt Gen Jain was the Southern Army Commander in his previous posting.
Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, a fighter pilot with more than 3,500 hours of flying experience, will notably be the senior-most officer in line when the present IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh superannuates in October this year.
In his previous appointment as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff — a tri-services organisation under the Chief of Defence Staff — Air Marshal Dixit was part of the process of enhancing jointness and setting up the theatre commands.
He has extensive flying experience on various aircraft, including the Mirage-2000, MiG variants, Jaguar, Tejas and Hawk. He has also flown the AN-32 and Avro transport aircraft.
He is an experimental test pilot and a qualified flying instructor. During his service career spanning nearly four decades, he has been actively involved in numerous operations and exercises, including Operation Safed Sagar during the 1999 Kargil conflict and Operation Sindoor in 2025.
During his career, Air Marshal Dixit commanded a frontline fighter air base in the Western Sector and a premier fighter training base in the Southern Sector. He has also served as Directing Staff at the Air Force Test Pilots School and commanded the Central Air Command.
