Pradeep Vasant Naik

Air Chief Marshal

P V Naik

PVSM, VSM
Air Chief Marshal; P V Naik; PVSM, VSM
Born	22 July 1949 (age 75); Nagpur, Maharashtra
Allegiance	India
Service / branch	Indian Air Force
Years of service	21 June 1969 – 2012
Rank	Air Chief Marshal
Commands	Central Air Command; AFS Bidar; 26 Squadron
Battles / wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal; Vishisht Seva Medal;
Other work	Honorary Aides-de-Camp (ADC) to the President of India

Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik, PVSM, VSM served as the 22nd Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. He took office on 31 May 2009 following the retirement of Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major and was succeeded in office by Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne.^[1]

Career

Naik was born on 22 July 1949 at Nagpur, Maharashtra and was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on 21 June 1969 as a fighter pilot. He is an alumnus of Sainik School, Satara and National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla in Maharashtra. During his 42 years of service, he has served in a variety of command staff and instructional appointments.

Naik has over 3,000 hrs of flying on his log. He also took part in air actions during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in the Eastern and Western sectors. Before taking over as Chief of Air Staff, he was the Vice Chief of Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. Naik has also served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Allahabad-based, Central Air Command.

Besides being a fellow of the National Defence College, New Delhi, Naik is a Qualified Flying Instructor and a Fighter Combat Leader. He has served as Directing staff at DSSC Wellington, India and at Tactics & Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE).

Advisor

Currently, he is a member of the Board of Advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.).^[2]

Personal life

Naik and his wife Madhubala have two sons; the elder son, Group Captain Vivek Naik was a fighter pilot (Mig 29) with the Indian Air Force and later transferred to the transport stream, and the younger son, Vineet is a Chief Officer in the Merchant Navy^{[broken anchor]}.

Awards

	Param Vishisht Seva Medal	Vishisht Seva Medal
Samanya Seva Medal	Poorvi Star Medal	Paschimi Star Medal	Special Service Medal
Sangram Medal	Operation Parakram Medal	Sainya Seva Medal	50th Anniversary Independence Medal
25th Anniversary Independence Medal	30 Years Long Service Medal	20 Years Long Service Medal	9 Years Long Service Medal

References

^ Darpan, Pratiyogita (October 2009). "Pradeep Vasant Naik". Pratiyogita Darpan. pp. 169–. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
^ "I.I.M.U.N. || Board of Advisors". new.iimun.in. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

External links

Media related to Pradeep Vasant Naik at Wikimedia Commons

Military offices
Preceded by Fali Homi Major	Chief of the Air Staff (India) 31 May 2009 – 31 July 2011	Succeeded by Norman Anil Kumar Browne
Preceded by Deepak Kapoor	Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee 30 March 2010 – 30 July 2011	Succeeded by Nirmal Kumar Verma

[Darpan2009-1] Darpan, Pratiyogita (October 2009). "Pradeep Vasant Naik". Pratiyogita Darpan. pp. 169–. Retrieved 9 May 2011.

[2] "I.I.M.U.N. || Board of Advisors". new.iimun.in. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

[1]

[2]

v t e Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces
Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (1947–2019)	Sir Rob Lockhart Sir Thomas Elmhirst Sir Edward Parry K. M. Cariappa Sir Charles Pizey Subroto Mukerjee Kodandera Subayya Thimayya Ram Dass Katari Aspy Engineer Bhaskar Sadashiv Soman Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri Arjan Singh Adhar Kumar Chatterji Sam Manekshaw Gopal Gurunath Bewoor Om Prakash Mehra Sourendra Nath Kohli Tapishwar Narain Raina Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Jal Cursetji Om Prakash Malhotra Idris Hasan Latif Ronald Lynsdale Pereira K. V. Krishna Rao Dilbagh Singh Oscar Stanley Dawson Arun Shridhar Vaidya Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani Denis La Fontaine Jayant Ganpat Nadkarni Surinder Mehra Sunith Francis Rodrigues Laxminarayan Ramdas Bipin Chandra Joshi S. K. Kaul Vijai Singh Shekhawat Shankar Roychowdhury Satish Sareen Ved Prakash Malik Sushil Kumar Sundararajan Padmanabhan Madhvendra Singh Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Nirmal Chander Vij Arun Prakash Shashindra Pal Tyagi Joginder Jaswant Singh Sureesh Mehta Deepak Kapoor Pradeep Vasant Naik Nirmal Kumar Verma Norman Anil Kumar Browne Bikram Singh Arup Raha Sunil Lanba Birender Singh Dhanoa Bipin Rawat
Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2020–2021)	Bipin Rawat
Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2021–2022)	M. M. Naravane (acting)
Chief of Defence Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (2022–)	Anil Chauhan
(**Seconded from the British Armed Forces)

v t e Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force
Air Marshal Commanding, Royal Indian Air Force (1947–1948)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst**
Chief of the Air Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Air Force (1948–1950)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst**
Chief of the Air Staff and Commander-in-Chief, Indian Air Force (1950–1955)	Sir Thomas Elmhirst Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman Gerald Gibbs** Subroto Mukerjee
Chief of the Air Staff (1955–present)	Subroto Mukerjee Aspy Engineer Arjan Singh Pratap Chandra Lal Om Prakash Mehra Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Idris Hasan Latif Dilbagh Singh Lakshman Madhav Katre Denis La Fontaine Surinder Mehra Nirmal Chandra Suri Swaroop Kaul Satish Kumar Sareen Anil Tipnis Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Shashindra Pal Tyagi Fali Homi Major Pradeep Vasant Naik Norman Anil Kumar Browne Arup Raha Birender Singh Dhanoa Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria Vivek Ram Chaudhari (incumbent)
(**Seconded from the Royal Air Force)