New Vice Chief of Air Staff : Air Marshal SP Dharkar has been appointed the next Vice Chief of the Air Force. He will replace Air Marshal AP Singh who has been appointed the next Chief of the Air Force. Dharkar is currently the Eastern Air Commander in Shillong, Meghalaya.

Air Marshal Sujeet Pushpakar Dharkar, PVSM, AVSM is an officer in the Indian Air Force. He is currently serving as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, of Eastern Air Command.

He assumed charge on 1 October 2022 Before this, he served as Senior Air Staff Officer, South Western Air Command, Gandhinagar.

Sujeet Pushpakar Dharkar was commissioned into the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot on 14 June 1985. He has over 3,600 hours of flying experience on a variety of fighter aircraft. Air Marshal SP Dharkar is a qualified flying instructor, fighter strike leader and instrument rating instructor and examiner and has also served as an Air Force examiner.

During his illustrious career, he has commanded a front-line fighter , squadron and a Fighter Flying Training Establishment and also has instructional experience in conducting Profefront-linelitary Education at DSSC and College of Air Warfare, Secunderabad.

Significant experience in ground attack/strike roles

He has significant experience in ground attack/strike roles, primarily on MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft. As an Air Vice Marshal he served as the first Director General of the Defence Space Agency. As an Air Marshal, he served as Senior Air Staff Officer, S, south Western Air Command from 1 November 2021 to 30 September 2022. He assumed charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command on 1 October 2022, succeeding Air Marshal Dilip Kumar Patnaik.