Air Marshal D Choudhury takes over as Senior Air Staff Officer of Western Air Command

Air Marshal D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM on Wednesday took over as Senior Air Staff Officer of Western Air Command.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Air Marshal D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM was commissioned on December 22, 1983. The Air Officer is a Fighter Combat Leader and an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner. He is also an alumnus of Royal College of Defence Studies UK and a Post Graduate in Strategy and International Security from King's College London.  Air Marshal D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM is also a Master of Philosophy on Defence and Strategic Studies.

He has over 5000 sorties of flying on operational fighter aircraft and is Fully Ops and MG on MiG-21(all variants), MiG-27, MiG-29 and Su-30 aircraft. Air Marshal D Choudhury has commanded 15 Sqn, Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) and two frontline bases as the AOC. 
Air Marshal D Choudhury also  served two tenures at TACDE – first as an Instructor and then as Commandant. He has held staff appointments in Air HQ as Director Air Staff Inspection, Director Operations Joint Planning and Director Operational Planning and Assessment Group. He has served as Air-I of HQ WAC, Air Defence Commander of HQ CAC and HQ SWAC, AOC of COBRA Group and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Insp) at Air HQ (RKP). 
Air Marshal D Choudhury is widely experienced in fighter operations and planning at the field, operational and strategic levels. He has successfully led three International exercises – Red Flag, Desert Eagle and Garuda and has also authored a large number of service papers on operational matters, Air Power and Leadership.

He was awarded the CAS commendation in Aug 1992, VishishtSeva Medal in Jan 2007, Vayu Sena Medal in January 2011 and AtiVishishtSeva Medal in January 2018.