Amar Preet Singh

Military career

The air officer was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 21 December 1984 from the Air Force Academy, Dundigal. In a distinguished career spanning across 38 years, he has tenanted various staff and instructional appointments. He has flown a variety of fighter and trainer aircraft with more than 5000 hours of operational flying. He is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an experimental test pilot with service flying on a variety of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. As Wing Commander, he commanded the No. 22 squadron, then made up of the MiG-27 fighter aircraft. He spearheaded the MiG-29 Upgrade Project Management Team at Moscow, Russia and was instrumental in flight testing of the HAL Tejas. He served as the Chief Test Pilot at Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment.

After being promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he served as the Project Director at National Flight Test Center, Aeronautical Development Agency and as the Air Officer Commanding of 2 Air Defence Control Centre at Gandhinagar.

After being promoted to the rank of Air Marshal, he was appointed as the Senior Air Staff Officer of the Eastern Air Command at Shillong. A year later, on 1 July 2022, he took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Air Command succeeding Air Marshal Richard John Duckworth who superannuated from service on 30 June 2022.

On 1 February 2023, Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh took over as the 47th Vice Chief of the Air Staff succeeding Air Marshal Sandeep Singh when the latter superannuated from service on 31 January 2023. As VCAS, he was at the forefront of the largest ever multinational Air Exercise Tarang Shakti held in India that was concluded in September 2024. In a significant message on the importance and the efficiency of India's indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, he flew extensively during the drill including a sortie with VCOAS Lieutenant General N. S. Raja Subramani and VCNS Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.

Chief of the Air Staff

On 21 September 2024, the Government of India appointed Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh as the next Chief of the Air Staff. On 30 September 2024, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh took over as the 28th Chief of the Air Staff succeeding Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari who superannuated after more than four decades of service. In February 2025, during Aero India 2025, he had criticised Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for delays in delivering of the Tejas fighter aircraft. He has also supported the procurement of indigenously designed defence systems over imports from international companies.

Personal life

He is married to Sarita Singh and the couple has a son and a daughter. He is a keen squash player.

Awards and decorations

During his career, he has been awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2023. and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2019.

Dates of rank