New Delhi: Veteran fighter pilot Arup Raha will be the new Chief of the Indian Air Force. He is the 24^th Indian Air Force Chief who took charge of the office succeeding Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Brown. In a ceremonial atmosphere he has been handed over the charge from N.A.K. Brown in presence of other senior officials in the IAF including Air Marshal R.K Sharma who is the Vice Chief of Air staff and Air Marshal S. Sukumar who currently holds the position as Deputy Chief of IAF. Arup Raha, who was born on December 26^th 1954, celebrated his 59^th birthday recently. He will be holding the position as the Chief of Indian Air Force for a period of three years.

After taking charge of the office, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha told in a message to his subordinates that the 1.75Lakh strong force is on the brink of an absolute modernization process and transforming into a strategic aerospace power with full spectrum capability.