NEW DELHI — The top echelons of the Indian Armed Forces are set to undergo a significant leadership transition this week, marked by the appointment of a new Army Chief and a new Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force. Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth will officially take charge as the Chief of the Army Staff on Tuesday, succeeding the retiring incumbent, General Upendra Dwivedi. Concurrently, the Indian Air Force will welcome Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit as its new Vice Chief on Wednesday, anchoring a series of crucial command changes across the country’s military framework.
The transition marks a historic milestone for the Indian Army, as Lieutenant General Seth becomes the first officer from the Armoured Corps to ascend to the top post in more than three decades. Commissioned in December 1986, his appointment breaks a long line of infantry and artillery chiefs, with the last Armoured Corps officer to lead the force being General Shankar Roychowdhury, who retired in September 1997. Currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, Lieutenant General Seth brings nearly four decades of extensive operational, strategic, and capability development experience to the absolute pinnacle of military command.
Parallelly, the air hierarchy will see Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit assume the office of the Vice Chief of the Air Staff on July 1. Air Marshal Dixit, a highly decorated fighter pilot and experimental test pilot, currently serves as the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff, where he has been deeply involved in advancing inter-service synergy and designing the country’s proposed integrated theatre commands. Notably, he will be the senior-most officer in line for the top position when the current Air Chief Marshal, AP Singh, superannuates in October later this year.
These high-level changes follow a sequence of recent appointments at the very apex of India’s defence structure, coming just a month after Chief of Defence Staff General NS Raja Subramani and Navy Chief Admiral Krishna Swaminathan took charge of their respective offices. The reshuffle has triggered a corresponding chain of command updates across various operational theatres of the army. Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain, who is currently the Southern Army Commander, will move to New Delhi to replace Lieutenant General Seth as the next Vice Chief of the Indian Army.
In turn, the critical Pune-based Southern Army Command will be headed by Lieutenant General Rajesh Pushkar, an Armoured Corps officer currently leading the II Strike Corps in Ambala, effective July 1. Furthermore, the Jaipur-headquartered South-Western Army Command will see a change in leadership as Lieutenant General Mohit Malhotra takes the reins. Lieutenant General Malhotra, also hailing from the Armoured Corps and currently serving as the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Command in Kolkata, will succeed Lieutenant General Manjinder Singh, who is scheduled to retire from service on Tuesday.
