Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

AVSM 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 ...

, ADC (25 June 1961 – 21 January 2023) was an officer of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

and served as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff from 1 October 2019 to 30 June 2021. He was succeeded by Air Marshal

Vivek Ram Chaudhari Air chief marshal (India), Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, is a retired four-star air officer of the Indian Air Force who served as the Chief of the Air Staff (India), Chief of the Air Staff. He took over as the 27th Chief of the Air St ...

Early life and education

Arora was an alumnus of the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

, Wellington and the National Defence College, New Delhi. He graduated from the

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, Madhya Pradesh. It was conferred Presidential standard in 2009. The i ...

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

. He also had an M. Phil. in defence and strategic studies.

Career

Arora was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force in December 1981. He had flying experience of over 2600 hours on

Mig-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

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

, and also helicopters. Arora has commanded a Mig-21 squadron and then Air Defence Direction Center as a Group Captain in the southwestern sector. He has also commanded 45 Squadron as a

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

. He has held other posts including air officer commanding of the

Adampur Air Force Station Adampur Airport , is a domestic airport and an Indian Air Force base serving the cities of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur in Punjab, India. It is located from Adampur town in Jalandhar district, from Jalandhar and from Hoshiarpur, and is situate ...

, air defence commander at

Western Air Command The Western Air Command (WAC) is the regional command of Indian Air Force headquartered in New Delhi. It is the largest and most important Air Command of the IAF, comprising sixteen Air Force Bases (AFBs), and is responsible for aerial defence of ...

Headquarters, air defence commander at Eastern Air Command Headquarters, directing staff at

and as a flying inspector in the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection. He also served as a

defence attaché Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

at the Indian embassy at Bangkok from 2006 to 2009. Arora served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief ( AOC in C),

South Western Air Command The South Western Air Command (SWAC) is one of the five operational commands of the Indian Air Force, headquartered in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Gandhinagar. It was raised in Jodhpur in July 1980 from the No.1 Operations Group of the Western Air Com ...

from 30 September 2018 after superannuation of Air Marshal

Ravinder Kumar Dhir Air Marshal Ravinder Kumar Dhir PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC is an advisor to Gujarat state for 'Defence and Aerospace Industries'. He was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), South Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force from 1 June 2015 ...

, to 30 September 2019. He was succeeded by Air Marshal Surendra Kumar Ghotia. Arora was appointed the Vice Chief of Air Staff on 28 September 2019 following elevation of Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhaduria as Chief of Air Staff.

Later life and death

Arora superannuated on 30 June 2021 after 39 years of service. Arora died on 21 January 2023, at the age of 61.

Honours and decorations

In his career of over 38 years, Arora was awarded 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 D ...

in January 2011 and the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

in January 2020.

Personal life

Arora was married to Baljeet; the couple had two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arora, Harjit Singh 1961 births 2023 deaths Vice chiefs of Air Staff (India) Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal National Defence College, India alumni Air attachés for India Defence Services Staff College alumni