Diptendu Choudhury

Air Marshal Diptendu Choudhury, PVSM, AVSM,VM, VSM is a retired officer of the Indian Air Force. He served as the 32nd Commandant, National Defence College. He assumed the office on 16 December 2019 succeeding Vice Admiral Srikant and served till his superannuation on 30 November 2021.

Diptendu Choudhury is an alumnus ofNational Defence Academy, Pune.He is an alumnus of Royal College of Defence Studies, UK, a Post Graduate in Strategy and International Security from King's College, London and Master of Philosophy on Defence and Strategic Studies. He is currently pursuing Ph.D. in air power and has also authored a large number of service papers. He is serving as a Distinguished Fellow, at Vivekananda International Foundation

Diptendu Choudhury was commissioned as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force. In a career spanning over 37 years, he has as more than 5,000 hours of flying experience across various fighter jets. He is fully operational on MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29 and Su-30 aircraft.

He is a fighter combat Leader and an instrument rating Instructor and Examiner. He has served two tenures at TACDE first as an Instructor and then as Commandant. He has led three International exercises – Red Flag, Desert Eagle and Garuda exercise.

As Group Captain, he served as the Commandant at Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment. Later, he served as Director (Joint Planning) at the Air Headquarters, New Delhi.

As Air Commodore, he served as the Air Officer Commanding of 35 Wing at the Suratgarh, Rajasthan in the South Western Air Command. Later, he served as the Air Officer Commanding of 1 Wing at the New Delhi under the Western Air Command.

As Air Vice Marshal, he served as the Air Defence Commander atCentral Air Command. Later, he served as the Air Officer Commanding at the Composite Battle Response and Analysis Group (CoBRA) at Maharajpur and Air Officer Commanding in Gandhinagar. He served as the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Inspection.

After his promotion to Air Marshal in April 2019, he served as the Senior Air Staff Officer, Western Air Command till 15 December 2019.

He took over as the Commandant, National Defence College on 16 December 2019 from Vice Admiral Srikant. Under his command, a Chair of Excellence on National Security was setup at the National Defence College.

During his career, Diptendu Choudhury has been awarded the Commendation card by the Chief of the Air Staff in 1992, Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2022, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2018, Vayu Sena Medal in 2011 and Vishisht Seva Medal in 2007 for his service.