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Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit was accorded a ceremonial Tri-Service Guard of Honour at the South Block lawns in Delhi on Thursday as he assumed the role of Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (CISC).
The prestigious ceremony marked his appointment, succeeding Lt General JP Mathew, who superannuated on Wednesday. The General Officer had been holding the appointment of CISC since April 2023. Lt Gen Mathew has spent over four glorious decades in the military, including holding a two-year tenure at the helm of the Headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff. Meanwhile, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, who earlier headed the Indian Air Force's Prayagraj-based Central Air Command, will be taking over the charge as the CISC. Commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on December 6, 1986, Air Marshal Dixit is an Experimental Test Plot and a Qualified Flying Instructor with more than 3,300 hours of flying experience on a variety of aircraft in the IAF inventory. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College (Bangladesh) and National Defence College, Dixit was actively involved in the operations and exercises such as Op Safed Sagar in the Kargil War and Op-Bakshak. As a Commanding Officer, he re-equipped one of the Squadrons of the IAF with the state-of-the-art Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft and later commanded a front-line fighter airbase in the Western Sector and a premier fighter training base in the Southern Sector. The Air Officer held the appointment of Air Defence Commander of Southern Air Command and also tenanted the appointments of Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects) and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Plans) at Air Headquarters. As the Deputy Chief of Air Staff in Air Headquarters, Dixit played a critical role in pushing forward the Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) initiative of the defence forces. A number of indigenous aircraft projects, including the LCA Mark-1A, Mark-2 and AMCA, have seen significant forward movement in his tenure as Deputy Chief. The Air Marshal headed many projects with the adaption of future technologies and worked towards ensuring that the IAF achieves modernisation while maintaining a steady focus on 'Aatmanirbharta Self Reliance'. (ANI)
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