Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Birender Singh Dhanoa,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

, AVSM, YSM, VM,

ADC ADC may refer to: Science and medicine * ADC (gene), a human gene * AIDS dementia complex, neurological disorder associated with HIV and AIDS * Allyl diglycol carbonate or CR-39, a polymer * Antibody-drug conjugate, a type of anticancer treatment ...

is an Indian air force officer who was the 22nd Chief of the Air Staff of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

and served from 31 December 2016 to 30 September 2019. Dhanoa also served as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. As of July 2021, Dhanoa is serving as a non-executive and independent director at

Hero MotoCorp Hero MotoCorp Limited (formerly Hero Honda) is an Indian multinational motorcycle and scooter manufacturer headquartered in New Delhi. The company is one of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in the world, as well as in India, where it has ...

Early life and education

Birender Singh Dhanoa was born in

Deoghar Deoghar (pronounced ''Devaghar'') is a major city in Jharkhand, India. It is a holy sacred place of Hinduism. It is one of the 12 ''Jyotirlinga''s sites of Hinduism (Baidyanath Temple). The sacred temples of the city make this a place for pil ...

in the Indian state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

(now

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

) to Sukhdev Kaur and Sorain Singh in a

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

Sikh family. His ancestral village is Gharuan in the state of Punjab near Chandigarh and Mohali. His father Sorain Singh, an

IAS IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

officer, served as the Chief Secretary to the governments of Punjab and Bihar during the 1980s, and later as an advisor to the Punjab state governor, and as an

Election Commissioner of India The Election Commissioners of India are the members of Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections in India to the national and state legislatures. The Election Commissioners are usuall ...

. His grandfather Capt Sant Singh had fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a captain of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. He has completed a part of his schooling from St. Xavier's School, Ranchi. He is an alumnus of St. George's College, Mussoorie, where he studied from 1968 to 1969. He thereon joined Rashtriya Indian Military College,

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

, and later graduated from National Defence Academy,

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. He also attended a staff course in Defence Services Staff College, Wellington in 1992.

Career

Dhanoa was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force in June 1978. He has flown various types of fighter jets and is a qualified flying instructor. He has flown fighter aircraft across the spectrum including HJT-16 Kiran, MiG-21,

SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. It is still in service with the Indian Air Force. Originall ...

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

and Su-30MKI. He held several key operational and administrative appointments in his 41 years of career including Director Targeting Cell at Air Headquarters, Director Fighter Operations & War Planning at Headquarters

Western Air Command , colors= , colors_label= , battles= 1962 Sino-Indian War, 1971 India-Pakistan War, Operation Meghdoot , anniversaries= , commander1= Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, AVSM, VM , commander1_label= Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief(AOC-in-C) , n ...

, Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) at Air Headquarters, Senior Air Staff Officer of Eastern and

and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of

South Western Air Command Victory embraces the brave , colors= , colors_label= , battles= Atlantique incident, Bhuj earthquake relief, 2001, Gujarat flood relief, 2005 , anniversaries= , commander1= Air Marshal Vikram Singh, VSM , commander1_label= Air Officer Co ...

(1 November - 31 May 2015). He has held instructional appointments of Senior Air Instructor and Chief Air Instructor at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and leader of an Indian Air Force Training Team abroad.

Kargil Conflict

Dhanoa was Commanding Officer of a front line

ground attack In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement ...

fighter squadron during the Kargil Conflict in 1999. Under his leadership the squadron devised innovative methods of night bombing at high altitudes which had never been attempted before. His squadron was adjudged the best fighter squadron of HQ WAC. He was awarded Yudh Seva Medal (YSM) and Vayu Sena Medal (VM) for his gallant actions in this conflict. Before assuming the office of Vice Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ from Air Marshal Ravi Kant Sharma on 1 June 2015, he was the

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

of the

. Air Marshal Ravinder Kumar Dhir succeeded him as the AOC-in-C of South Western Air Command. On 17 December 2016, the Government of India designated Air Marshal Dhanoa as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force.

Bilateral visits as CAS

Awards and medals

Dhanoa has been awarded several medals: the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (2016), the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime Dis ...

(2015), the Yudh Seva Medal (1999), and the

Vayu Sena Medal The Vayu Sena Medal is a military decoration, usually awarded in peacetime for a job well done in the Indian Air Force. However, it has been granted during times of conflict for acts of gallantry in the face of enemy, though not in the same numb ...

(1999). He was also appointed as Honorary

to the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

on 1 August 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhanoa, Birendir Singh Chiefs of Air Staff (India) Vice Chiefs of Air Staff (India) Living people Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Indian Air Force officers Recipients of the Vayu Sena Medal 1957 births Recipients of the Yudh Seva Medal