Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria will take over as the Vice Chief of Indian Air Force on May 1 succeeding Air Marshal Anil Khosla who is superannuating. Bhadauria is at present heading IAF’s Bengaluru-based Training Command and in his earlier avatar as the Deputy Chief, he was the chairman of the Indian negotiating team for the 36 Rafale combat aircraft deal with France.

Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Air Force on June 15, 1980 with the Sword of Honour. He went on to hold several important positions such as Commandant of the National Defence Academy, Senior Air Staff Officer at the Central Air Command and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from January 2016 to February 28, 2017.

Bhadauria served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Southern Air Command from March 1, 2017. He took over as the chief of the Bengaluru-based Training Command on August 1, 2018.