NEW DELHI: Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari, a distinguished fighter pilot with more than 3,600 hours of flying experience, on Friday took charge as the new Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

He succeeds Air Marshal S P Dharkar, who superannuated on April 30.

Before taking charge as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Tiwari served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the Gandhinagar-based South Western Air Command (SWAC).

The air marshal was given a guard of honour at the Air Headquarters -- Vayu Bhawan.

"Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari PVSM AVSM VM took over as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, IAF on 02 May 25. An alumnus of RIMC, NDA and US Air Command & Staff College, he is a distinguished fighter pilot, test pilot and former AOC-in-C of SWAC, with over 3600 hrs of flying experience," the IAF posted on X.

He was commissioned in the fighter stream in June 1986. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he passed out as the President's Gold Medallist.

Air Marshal Tiwari has flown various types of aircraft, and is a qualified flying instructor as well as an experimental test pilot, the defence ministry had earlier said in a statement.

The air marshal has rich field experience, which also includes operational testing of various weapons and systems, primarily on the Mirage-2000. He was actively involved in operations and also took part in many important missions during the Kargil conflict, it had said.

The air marshal earlier had taken over as the AOC-in-C, SWAC in May 2023.