Meghalaya: Air Marshal Surat Singh takes over as EAC chief
Guwahati: Air Marshal Surat Singh on Tuesday took over as the new Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) Eastern Air Command (EAC) at Shillong in Meghalaya.
He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on December 6, 1986.
The air officer has flown various fighter aircrafts of the IAF which include variants of the MiG-21, MiG-29 and Su-30 MKI.
He is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, Australia and National Defence College, Bangladesh.
He has rich and varied experience of operational flying, training and staff assignments, and has flown over 2,900 hours of fighter aircraft.
The air officer has commanded a MiG-29 squadron, the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) - an air defence node and fighter station.
He has served as Director at the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection (DASI), Air Headquarters.
He has been Air-l at South-Western Air Command, Principal Director at Directorate of Personnel (Officers) and Directorate of Operations (Offensive) and the Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Space).
Prior to taking over his present appointment, he was Director General Air Operations at Air Headquarters. He brings a wealth of operational experience to his current job.
In recognition of his distinguished service, the air officer was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal (VM) in 2006, the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) in 2011 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2015.