Imphal: Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), South Western Air Command (SWAC) at Gandhinagar on Monday. He succeeds Air Marshal Vikram Singh, who superannuated on April 30, 2023.
Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari was commissioned in the Fighter Stream on Jun2 7, 1986. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and passed out as the President’s Gold Medalist. He has flown over 3600 hours on various types of aircraft. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor as well as an Experimental Test Pilot.
The Air Marshal has rich field experience which also includes operational testing of various weapons and systems, primarily on the Mirage-2000. He was involved in operations and took part in many important missions during the Kargil conflict. He has also commanded a frontline fighter base in the Rajasthan sector. After that, he served as the Chief Test Pilot of ASTE, the Air Force’s premier flight testing establishment.
He was Air Attaché in Paris from 2013-16. On return from France, he commanded Air Force Station Jodhpur. He took over as Project Director (Flight Test) at National Flight Test Centre in Oct 2018, where he was actively involved with developing and operationalizing Light Combat Aircraft TEJAS.
Prior to assuming charge as the AOC-in-C SWAC, the Air Marshal was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ(VB). For his distinguished service, he was awarded the ‘Vayu Sena Medal’ in 2008 and ‘Ati Vishisht Seva Medal’ in 2022, said a press note from the PRO, Indian Air Force.
