Centre names Air Marshal Bhadauria as next IAF chief

New Delhi: The government on Thursday named Air Marshal R K S Bhadauria as the new Indian Air Force (IAF) chief. He will succeed Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, who

New Delhi: The government on Thursday named Air Marshal R K S Bhadauria as the new Indian Air Force (IAF) chief. He will succeed Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, who retires on September 30. Had he not been appointed to the post, Bhadauria would have retired the same day as Dhanoa.

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Bhadauria, who has been the IAF’s vice chief since May 1, is affectionately known as Chotu. He led the complex negotiations for the Rs 59,000-crore Rafale deal for 36 fighter jets and has also been closely associated with the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme.

“Air Marshal R K S Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF in June 1980, and has held various command, staff and instructional appointments at various levels,” a defence ministry statement said.

It is rare though not unprecedented for top officers to be promoted as service chiefs with effect from the day of their retirement and making top appointments is the government’s prerogative, two officers said on the condition of anonymity. Air Chief Marshal NC Suri was also appointed the IAF chief in 1991 from the day of his retirement, said one of the officers.

Air Marshals B Suresh and R Nambiar were among the contenders for the top post. Had Bhadauria not been promoted to the four-star rank, he would have retired on September 30, and Suresh would have been the senior-most officer.

Traditionally, service chiefs have been appointed on the basis of seniority. The officer who is senior-most the day a chief retires is usually named the successor.

Seniority is usually followed when a new service chief is named. But there have been instances when the government has overlooked it. When General Bipin Rawat was named the army chief in December 2016, the National Democratic Alliance government superseded two lieutenant generals who were senior to him.

Then defence minister Manohar Parrikar defended the Centre’s decision to appoint Rawat as chief. He argued that if seniority was the only criterion, then a computer could have selected a service chief on the basis of the date of birth and there was no need to follow a rigourous procedure spanning months. The procedure involves analysis of Intelligence Bureau reports of candidates and the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Again, in May 2019, the government superseded Vice Admiral Bimal Verma to appoint Admiral Karambir Singh as the navy chief. The previous United Progressive Alliance government also did not go by seniority in 2014 when Admiral Robin Dhowan superseded Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha to become the navy chief.

Verma challenged the government’s decision to appoint Admiral Singh as the chief. But the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) dismissed his petition saying that while seniority is the primary condition for selection to top posts, it cannot be the sole criterion. In an order passed on Monday, the principal bench of the AFT ruled that the government was justified in superseding Admiral Verma.

Bhadauria will take charge of the IAF at a time when the service is grappling with a spending crunch that could hit its modernisation efforts. The IAF has sought an additional Rs 40,000 crore from the government to buy new equipment and also to pay for weapons and systems it has already contracted to purchase.

Big-ticket critical purchases on the IAF’s wish list running into billions of dollars include 114 new medium-weight fighter planes, 83 light combat aircraft, a mix of 33 more MiG-29s and Sukhoi-30s, six aerial refueling planes, 56 new medium transport aircraft and 70 basic trainer aircraft.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Bhadauria won the coveted Sword of Honour for standing first in the overall order of merit. Over his 39-year military service, he has clocked 4,250 flying hours on 26 types of fighters and transport aircraft. He has the distinction of being an experimental test pilot, a qualified flying instructor and a pilot attack instructor.

His previous appointments include command of a Jaguar squadron, a premier IAF base. He was the project director of the National Flight Test Centre, the directorate of the Aeronautical Development Agency, dealing with the flight testing of the LCA. He was extensively involved in the initial prototype flight tests on the LCA. He has also served as the air defence attaché in Russia.

He has also served as the assistant chief of the air staff (projects), IAF’s deputy chief and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Air Command and also the Training Command.