Air Marshal SRK Nair is AOC-in-C Training Command

to HQ Strategic Forces Command in New Delhi. Rear Admiral Bhokare is a specialist in Navigation and Aircraft Direction and a graduate of National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.

Rear Admiral Bhokare is a submariner, and has commanded three Kilo- class boats, INS Sindhughosh, Sindhudhwaj and Sindhushastra, and the Navy’s Western submarine base, INS Vajrabahu in Mumbai. He has also commanded the Brahmaputra- class frigate INS Beas. His various Staff and Operational appointments include Command of Submarine Squadron as Commodore Commanding Submarines (West) and Chief Staff Officer (Operations) at Eastern Naval Command. Prior taking over as FOC Eastern Fleet, he was serving as Flag Officer Submarines.

Rear Admiral PK Bahl is FOGA, FONA

Rear Admiral Puneet Kumar Bahl, VSM, assumed charge as Flag Officer Naval Aviation and Flag Officer Goa Area from Rear Admiral Ravneet Singh on 6 October 2015. Rear Admiral Bahl was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1984 and is alumnus of NDA, Khadakvasala. He has undertaken the staff course at DSSC Wellington and the Naval Higher Command Course at The College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai. An experienced maritime reconnaissance pilot, he has flown six different types of aircraft. His operational experience includes active participation in Operations Tasha and Vijay. He is also a qualified diver.

Prior to his elevation to Flag Rank, he was the Commanding Officer of INS Rajali, the premier maritime reconnaissance air station of the country (see Vayu VI/2014), from October 2011 to January 2015. During this assignment he successfully oversaw the smooth induction and operationalisation of Boeing P-8I MR/ ASW aircraft. He has also commanded the guided missile frigate INS Betwa and offshore patrol vessel INS Sujata.

Air Marshal SRK Nair, AVSM, VM, took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Headquarters Training Command, in Bengaluru on 1 September 2015. A Qualified Flying Instructor and an Air Force Examiner, the Air Marshal has over 7,000 hours of flying experience in transport and trainer aircraft.

His appointments include : Chief Operations Officer of a Transport Base, Commanding Officer of a strategic Airlift Squadron, Director Operations (Transport), at Air Headquarters, Air Officer Commanding of Air Force Station Chandigarh, Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Airmen and Civilians) and Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Transport and Helicopter) at Air HQ. He was Senior Air Staff Officer of Headquarters Training Command prior to appointment as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief.

He was instrumental in commencing An- 32 and C- 130 Hercules operations at the extreme altitude airstrip of Daulat Beg Oldi near the Karakoram Pass. The Air Marshal was at the helm of affairs the Operation Rahat disaster relief effort in Uttarakhand. He is the Commodore Commandant of No. 44 Squadron ‘The Mighty Jets.’

Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna is AOM

Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna, VSM, AVSM, took over as Air Officer-in-charge Maintenance (AOM) at Air Headquarters, on 1 November 2015. He was commissioned in the Mechanical stream of Aeronautical Engineering branch in IAF on 25 July 1977.