Air marshal P S Ahluwalia to head IAF's Western Air Command

Air marshal Padamjit Singh Ahluwalia, PVSM, AVSM, & BAR, VM VSM has been designated as air officer commanding-in-chief, western air command, with effect from 01 Feb 07. He takes charge from air marshal AK Singh, who retires on January 31.

The Indian Air Force's western air command is not only the oldest, but also the largest, and operationally, the most sensitive command of the Indian Air Force. It is a unique formation amongst the air force's of the world, in that its geographic area of command covers regions that are just a few hundred feet above mean sea level, as in the state of Gujarat, to Leh, in the Ladakh region, which has the world's highest airfield.

Air marshal Ahluwalia is a graduate of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and National Defence College. A highly decorated officer, Ahluwalia is held in high esteem within the profession, and is one of only two Indian Air Force officers to have ever been awarded a bar to his AVSM. The other officer to have received such recognition was the former air chief marshal LM Katre. To date, air marshal Ahluwalia has logged approximately 4,000 hours of flying on all types of fighter aircraft.

Air marshal Ahluwalia has a mix of crucial staff and field appointments to his credit, along with several professional and diplomatic assignments abroad. He has served in the directorates of electronic warfare, air defence, aircraft induction and concept studies at the Air HQ, apart from performing tours of duty in Japan and South Korea. He has also served a stint as air advisor to the chief of the air staff.

Air marshal Ahluwalia is considered to be an officer with exceptional operational and managerial skills. Currently air officer commanding-in-chief, southern air command, Ahluwalia has earlier served as director general (inspection & flight safety). It was during his tenure that the Indian Air Force managed to bring down its accident rate of aircraft to all time lows.

Earlier, in 1986, as a wing commander, air marshal Ahluwalia had commanded one of the two squadrons of the Indian Air Force that were equipped with the newly inducted Mirage-2000s. He was instrumental in the development of tactics for the new aircraft, as well as in the formulation of the syllabus and standard operating procedures for the Mirage's.

During the Kargil operations in 1999, as the air officer commanding of Air Force Station, Gwalior, Ahluwalia, then air commodore, undertook several trial runs on the Mirages, which were instrumental in the successful utilisation of these aircraft in Kargil's mountainous terrain. The air force considers their overcoming of the unique challenges posed by the terrain to be a unique operational success.