Abu Esrar

Air Chief Marshal Abu Esrar, BBP, NDC, ACSC is the current and 14th Chief of the Air Staff of the Bangladesh Air Force. He took over as the chief on 12 June 2015 from Air Marshal Enamul Bari. He is the first four-star air officer (Air Chief Marshal) of Bangladesh. He was promoted to ACM on 16 January 2016.

Birth
Esrar was born in 1961 in Gazipur to Abu Ayub and Akhtar-Un-Nesa.

Air Force career
Esrar joined the Bangladesh Air Force on 19 September 1978. He was commissioned in the GD(P) branch in 1 February 1981. He has worked in most of the squadrons of BAF. He has flown PT-6, AA-SA, Fugi-200, MiG-29. He has also worked as instructor of new pilots.

He has worked as Defense Attache in Moscow, Russia. Before becoming air chief he was Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations and Training).

Abu Esrar has undergone many courses in Bangladesh and abroad. He has completed 'Flying Instructors Course' in the United Kingdom  and  'Flying Supervisors Course' in Australia. He has undergone training of A5IIIA and MiG-29 in China and Russia respectively.

Esrar was awarded the prestigious BBP medal (Biman Bahini Padak, Air Force Madel in English) in 2013. He is a graduate of Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and also is an alumnus of 'National Defence College' (NDC) - Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Personal life
The Air Chief Marshal is a widely travelled person and takes keen interest in painting, music and reading professional journals. In 1986, he married Mrs Tasneem Esrar – the only daughter of late Group Captain M.A. Rashid and Mrs Razia Rashid. The couple is blessed with three daughters. Away from work, the Air Chief Marshal enjoys practicing his skills in painting and loves to pass leisure with his kids