Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria

Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, AVSM, VM is Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force and assumed the office on 1 March 2017 from Air Marshal S Neelakantan.

Early life and education
Bhadauria is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Pune and holds a Masters in Defence studies from Command and Staff College, Bangladesh.

Career
Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 15 June 1980 with the Sword of Honour. He has clocked over 4250 hours of flying and has experience on 26 different types of fighters. He held several key operational and administrative appointments at various stages of his service including Commander of a Jaguar Squadron at a front line base in South-Western sector; Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft and System Testing Establishment; Chief Test Pilot and Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on the Tejas LCA project; Air Attache in Moscow; Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects); Commandant of the National Defence Academy; Senior Air Staff Officer at Central Air Command and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (1 January 2016 - 28 February 2017). He is also an experimental Test Pilot, a Category A qualified Flying Instructor and a Pilot Attack Instructor.

Awards and medals
During 36 years of his career, Bhadauria has been awarded several medals: the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2013) and the Vayu Sena Medal (January 2002).

Personal life
He is married to Asha Bhadauria and they have two children.