Air Marshal Diptendu Choudhury, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM is a retired officer 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 ...

. He served as the 32nd Commandant, National Defence College. He assumed the office on 16 December 2019 succeeding Vice Admiral Srikant and served till his superannuation on 30 November 2021.

Early life and education

Diptendu Choudhury's father was an officer in the

and he did his schooling from The Air Force School, Delhi Cantt. Choudhury is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Pune and The Air Force Academy (India), Dundigal. He is also an alumnus of Royal College of Defence Studies, UK. He is a Post Graduate in Strategy and International Security from

King's College King's College or The King's College refers to two higher education institutions in the United Kingdom: *King's College, Cambridge, a constituent of the University of Cambridge *King's College London, a constituent of the University of London It ca ...

, London and Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies.

Career

Diptendu Choudhury was commissioned as a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

in the

. In a career spanning over 37 years, he has as more than 5000 hours of flying experience across various

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

. He is fully operational on MiG-21, MiG-27,

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-30 aircraft. He is a qualified ''Fighter Combat Leader'', an ''Instrument Rating Instructor'' and an ''Examiner''. He has served two tenures at TACDE first as an Instructor and then as its Commandant. He has led three International exercises –

Red Flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

, Desert Eagle and Garuda exercise. As

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

, he served as the Commandant of

Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment or TACDE is an Indian Air Force unit for training aerial combat to its top one percent fighter pilots. TACDE is based in Gwalior. It was conferred Presidential standard in 2009. The institution evolv ...

at Gwalior. Later, he served as Director (Joint Planning) at the Air Headquarters (Air HQ), New Delhi. As Air Commodore, he served as the Air Officer Commanding ( AOC) of 35 Wing at Suratgarh, Rajasthan under the

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 ...

. Later, he served as the AOC of 1 Wing at

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

under the Western Air Command. As

Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

, he served as the Air Defence

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

at Central Air Command. Later, he served as the Air Officer Commanding ( AOC) at the Composite Battle Response and Analysis Group (CoBRA) at Maharajpur. He also served as Air Defence

at the

situated in Gandhinagar. He has served as the

Assistant Chief of Air Staff The Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (ACAS) is a senior appointment in the Royal Air Force. The current ACAS is Air Vice-Marshal Simon Edwards. The post was originally established circa February 1938, but without being made a member of the Air ...

, Inspection at the 'Air Headquarters (Air HQ)' in Delhi. After his promotion to Air Marshal in April 2019, he served as the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO), Western Air Command till 15 December 2019. He took over as the Commandant, National Defence College on 16 December 2019 from Vice Admiral Srikant. Under his command, a Chair of Excellence on National Security was setup at the National Defence College. After his retirement he is on the Visiting Faculty of various defence institutions. He is currently pursuing Ph.D. in air power and has also authored a large number of service papers. He is serving as a Distinguished Fellow, at Vivekananda International Foundation. He has authored a book on 'Indian Air Power.' He was also the Indian Air Force Advisor on the Hindi feature film '' Fighter.''https://www.imdb.com/name/nm15785278/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_1_q_Air%2520Marshal%2520Diptendu%2520Choudhur

Honours and decorations

During his career, Diptendu Choudhury has been awarded the Commendation card by the Chief of the Air Staff in 1992, Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2022,

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 ...

in 2018, Vayu Sena Medal in 2011 and Vishisht Seva Medal in 2007 for his service.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Diptendu Living people Indian Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Vayu Sena Medal Year of birth missing (living people)

External links

* Air Marshal Diptendu Choudhury https://www.imdb.com/name/nm15785278/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_4_nm_4_q_Air%2520Marshal%2520