India Names Next Air Force Chief

Air Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne will take over as the Indian Air Force’s new chief on July 31. Currently Vice Chief, Browne has over 3,100 hours of flying on aircraft that include Hunters, all variants of the MiG-21, Jaguars and Su-30s. A fighter combat leader, Browne served as instructor at the IAF’s top gun school, the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE).

According to an IAF statement today, Air Marshal Browne established the Indian defence wing in Tel Aviv in April 1997 where he served as Defence Attache till July 2000. Between 2007-2009, he was IAF Deputy Chief at Air Headquarters, responsible for all major modernization programmes.

Before taking over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) at Air Headquarters on Jan 1 this year, he commanded the IAF’s Western Air Command, the lAF’s most vital operational command. Under his command and personal supervision, the first ever landing of an Antonov An-32 took place at the Nyoma advance landing ground, located at an altitude of 13,300 feet on 18 September 2009 (see photo).

More here, on what the next chief thinks of the PAF and modernisation.

15 thoughts on “India Names Next Air Force Chief”

  1. It was an error in the govt release. The man in the rediff picture is Air Marshal DC "Tiny" Kumaria, currently AOC-in-C, Western Air Command. The officer in the picture with my post here is Browne, the next chief.

  2. Its very soothing to hear that our Govt can not only get the names of people on most wanted list wrong but it also fails to check the facts in its official press release. This is EPIC(Extraordinary prize in InCompetence)

  3. @ Kaul @ 1050am. How on earth does it matter? The AF has successfully eluded religion based profiling since inception, let the poor blokes be. May the light long remain unshed !!

  4. To Rajiv Kumar Kaul,

    He probably is a Christian from the looks of his name. About whether that matters or not, he has flown and put his life on the line for the country, logging over 3,000 flight hours.

    Sure that's a lot less than what you and other members of the KCF (Keyboard Commando Force) spend on your playstations, but that's what counts for the country.

  5. Kaul

    Agree with Anon 1:36. The Armed Forces are the last place we should bring our stupid parochial feelings. Lets keep that in our respective homes, communities, cities, states. They are Indians – full stop.

    PS: Which other country in the world can boast of Chiefs of Staffs from different religions?

  6. Actually, I don't understand what the Indian airforce is about: it has hardly 125,000 personnel, including all the civilians. This is not more than two army corps, which are headed by one Lt. General each. At the most, this airforce, which was MIA in 1948 and 1962, and was the underdog in 1965, should have two Air Marshals. But, the number of AVMs and AMs it has is beyond any proportion to an army corps. It is inconceivable how many senior officers get appointed in the airforce. There has to be a balance between the three wings.

    Moreover, to count the airforce at the same level as the army is simply fooling oneself. The IAF is really equivalent to a small branch of the army, that's how small the IAF is.

    Then, they get appointed as Chairmen of HAL when they aren't even engineers, and can't calculate nothing there. If customers were always to set the designs and plan the production, we'd better disband engineers in every field. It's partially because HAL has been forever headed by an IAF officer or ex-IAF officer that HAL is so behind in everything. Have you seen who the CEO is at Boeing or Lockheed-Martin?

    The positions in the IAF simply need to be scaled back. There's been too much inflation there for too long.

  7. I feel the UPA govt is christianisng the Air force. The christians one in power will promote all christians to top post. Hidus at receving end

  8. Who cares what religion he belongs to as long as he does the job? The fact that he and other people serve in the defence of the country makes him and his colleagues far more patriotc than the right wingers who would never bother to go to the border to defend the country.

  9. Please Please Please
    Obviously you know very little about the Air Force. Read your history and also about the Christians who served in PAF like Mervyn Middlecoat We don't give a fig for your religion. Who cares?? You are known by your competence. I hope you are not from the Ram Sene? They could have at least spelt Sena right. Worst nightmare is Italian Mafia and Khaki Shorts. The PAF will be handled always and every time.

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