Shillong, January 01: Air Marshal Anil Khosla took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Air Command today, Born on 09 April 1959, Air Marshal an alumnus of National Defence Academy, was commissioned in the fighter stream of Indian Air Force in December 1979. Air Officer has to his credit over 4000 hours of accident free flying mainly on different variants of Jaguar, MiG-21 and Kiran aircraft. He is equally experienced on both Ground attack and Air Defence roles with specialisation on maritime role.
He is a post graduate from Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) and holds two M Phil degrees in military studies. He is an ‘A2’ category flying instructor and a fighter strike leader. He has had the distinction of standing first in the order of merit in all the attended courses. He was awarded Commandant’s medal during Higher Command Course at Army War College. He has attended Senior Defence Management Course at College of Defence Management and is also an alumnus of National Defence College.
The Air Officer has vast instructional experience and has been Directing Staff at prestigious institutions like Tactics and Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) and Flying Instructor School (FIS). He has commanded a Jaguar squadron with maritime role and two frontline bases of the IAF at Jaisalmer & Ambala.
He has held various staff appointments at Air HQ. These include Principal Director at Directorate of Information and Electronic Warfare, Director in Personnel branch and Joint Director at Directorate of Concept Studies. In the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he has held the appointment of Air Officer Commanding HQ Maritime Air Operations and Air Officer Commanding J&K Area. As an Air Marshal he has held appointment of Senior Air Staff Officer, Central Air Command and Director General Air (Operations) at Air HQ (Vayu Bhawan). His last appointment was as Director General (Inspection & Safety) at Air HQ (RK Puram), New Delhi.
For his distinguished service Air Marshal A Khosla has been awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vayu Sena Medal and has been commended by Chief of the Air Staff. He was also commended by Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, during flying training period as a cadet.
