Amar Preet Singh

Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, is a serving four star air officer of the Indian Air Force. He is the current and 28th Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). He was previously serving as the 47th Vice Chief of the Air Staff. He earlier served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Air Command and as the Senior Air Staff Officer at the Eastern Air Command.

Early life and education He is an alumnus of S.B.M. School, Delhi and later the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Air Force Academy, Dundigal. He is also an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and National Defence College, New Delhi.

Military career The air officer was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 21 December 1984 from the Air Force Academy, Dundigal. In a distinguished career spanning across 38 years, he has tenanted various staff and instructional appointments. He has flown a variety of fighter and trainer aircraft with more than 5000 hours of operational flying. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an experimental test pilot with service flying on a variety of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. He spearheaded the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team at Moscow, Russia and was instrumental in flight testing of the HAL Tejas. He served as the Chief Test Pilot at Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment.

After being promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he served as the Project Director at National Flight Test Center, Aeronautical Development Agency and as the Air Officer Commanding of 2 Air Defence Control Centre at Gandhinagar.

After being promoted to the rank of Air Marshal, he was appointed as the Senior Air Staff Officer of the Eastern Air Command at Shillong. A year later, on 1 July 2022, he took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Air Command succeeding Air Marshal Richard John Duckworth who superannuated from service on 30 June 2022.

On 1 February 2023, Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh took over as the 47th Vice Chief of the Air Staff succeeding Air Marshal Sandeep Singh when the latter superannuated from service on 31 January 2023. As VCAS, he was at the forefront of the largest ever multinational Air Exercise Tarang Shakti held in India that was concluded in September 2024. In a significant message on the importance and the efficiency of India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, he flew extensively during the drill including a sortie with VCOAS Lieutenant General N. S. Raja Subramani and VCNS Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.

Chief of the Air Staff On 21 September 2024, the Government of India appointed Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh as the next Chief of the Air Staff. On 30 September 2024, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh took over as the 28th Chief of the Air Staff succeeding Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari who superannuated after more than four decades of service. He has also supported the procurement of indigenously designed defence systems over imports from international companies.

Personal life He is married to Sarita Singh and the couple has a son and a daughter. He is a keen squash player.

Awards and decorations During his career, he has been awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2023. and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2019.

Dates of rank