Article Posted on : - Dec 02, 2012

NEW DELHI (PTI): Air Marshal Ravi Kant Sharma, a veteran fighter pilot, on Saturday took over as the commander of IAF's Shillong-based Eastern Air Command.

The officer was the Deputy Chief of Air Staff at the Air Headquarters here before taking over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the Eastern Command, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Gerard Galway said here.

Air Marshal S Sukumar has taken over as the new Deputy Chief of the Force and would be in-charge of all the procurements to be done by the Force for its modernisation, he said.

Sharma was commissioned into the fighters' stream of the IAF in June 1975 after which he went on to become a Qualified Flying Instructor.

"He is an Experimental Test pilot and has flown around 3300 hours on several different types of aircraft including the under-development Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)," Galway said.

He has also commanded Test Pilot School and Prototype Test Squadron at Aircraft System Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bangalore and a premier airbase in the South-Western Sector.