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THROUGH THESE PORTALS PASS SOME OF THE BEST PILOTS IN THE WORLD

Know Your Director

AIR COMMODORE VIPUL SINGH AVSM VM (RETD)
DIRECTOR, INDIRA GANDHI RASHTRIYA URAN AKADEMI

Air Cmde Vipul Singh AVSM VM was cleared for promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal; however took voluntary / premature retirement from IAF on 15 Jan 25. He took over the charge of Director, IGRUA on 15 May 25.

Academic Qualifications :

He is a graduate of Australian Command and Staff College (ACSC), Canberra, Indian Army War College (AWC), Mhow and National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi. He was also distinguished with ‘Dagger’ by Senior Command and Staff College, Uganda. He is a Cat ‘A’ Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI); the highest qualification for pilots in IAF. His highest academic qualification is MPhil.

Image of Director of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi

Decorations :

Honourable President of India had decorated him with Vayu Sena Medal in 2015 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) in 2023. AVSM equates with Padma Bhushan.

Authored a Book :

He had authored a book, titled "Compendium of My Thoughts - An Air Warrior’s Perspective in Aug 24. He is currently working on his second book.

Major Highlights of His Career in IAF (14 Dec 91 to 15 Jan 25) :

  • He did two foreign postings at Australia (2006-07) and Uganda (2016-18). He had a unique distinction of being the only IAF officer to have done Staff College abroad at Australia and later taught at another Staff College abroad (Staff College, Uganda).
  • He was the top performer at Australia and had topped the university. He had also excelled during Higher Command Course at AWC, Mhow, winning GOC-in-C medal, for excellence during the year. He was also a top performer at NDC, New Delhi.
  • He is a Cat ’A' QFI with 5100 hours of flying on 13 aircraft. Only 5 to 7% of pilots in IAF are Cat ’A' QFls. He was the most experienced QFI in the entire Fighter stream of IAF since 2013 till his voluntary retirement. He was also an Air Force Examiner on MiG-21, Kiran and PC-7 aircraft.
  • He taught Defence and Strategy for two years to officers of multiple nationalities at Ugandan Staff College under ITEC. He has also taught flying for 15 years to trainees of IAF, Indian Army, Indian Navy Indian Coast Guard, USA, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos, Uganda etc.
  • He had tenanted critical appointments within IAF with outstanding results. These included Commanding Officer (CO) of a Fighter squadron on Western front, Chief Instructor of a Flying Training Establishment (Fighter Training Wing), Station Commander of a Radar station, CO of Aircrew Examining Board (AEB) and Air Officer Commanding of Air Force Station Tambaram. Additionally, he had also been Directing Staff at Flying Instructors’ School, Joint Director at Directorate of Operations, Directing Staff at Ugandan Staff College and Air Cmde Aerospace Safety.
  • He had excelled in leadership roles and produced results that exceeded the best. Few of the milestones achieved were unthinkable. All his units and stations set new benchmarks and won top honours each year during Annual Commanders’ Conferences.

His Specialization / Domain Expertise

  • Extensive Foreign and Inter-Service Exposure : He has travelled to military establishments of ten countries and has an excellent comprehension of military dynamics in Asia and worldwide. By virtue of being a graduate of ACSC, AWC, NDC and a member of Indian Military Training Team under ITEC, he has an excellent exposure to the operational necessities of Army and Navy as well. He has taught a large number of foreign trainees within and outside India for 12 years.
  • Operations : He is a graduate of three finest military colleges of the world. He has served at Air HQ for two tenures, including in the Operations Directorate. He commanded five times in the IAF. These had operational roles (Flying and Air Defence), examining role (Flying and Ground testing) and training roles (Flying and Ground training). He has conducted / taught / supervised large-scale flying, Air Defence operations and training, with top results for long periods. He excels in military operations and training.
  • Instructional / Academic Domain : He has taught flying for over 15 years with nil failures. He is a Cat ‘A’ QFI and Dagger from Ugandan Staff College and have excelled in teaching defence and strategy, flying and aviation ground subjects.
  • Administrative Domain : Having taken two of his stations to great heights administratively year after year; he possesses an excellent knack of effective, efficient, responsive, employee-centric and productive administration. One of the stations had well over 12000 personnel. These included all facets of administrative services including legal medical, financial, work services, engineering services to support office / residential infrastructure, housing, water, electricity, security, messing, schools, shopping complexes, covid management, liaison with local police and civil administration, recruitment of personnel, hygiene, sanitation, de-vegetation, waste management etc. His stations won the awards of Best in Administration in all the three years.
  • Work Services Domain : He handled large-scale work services, contracts, outsourcing etc, while commanding stations. At Tambaram, 235 work services of different categories were completed in 27 months. Running the station also meant management of full-scale maintenance services / contracts to sustain 12000 people.
  • Maintenance Domain : He has been responsible for maintaining up to 50 aircraft of four types for five years, radar systems, extensive IT infrastructure, runway facilities, large number of common user and specialist vehicles, navigation aids for flying and other systems. The station under him won the award of Best in Maintenance, after a gap of 17 years.
  • Flight Safety Expert : In his last assignment in the IAF, he headed the Flight Safety set up of entire lAF, involving 900 aircraft, RPAs, LMs, SAGW and Radars. All the units and stations commanded by him in the past had the best flight safety records in the entire command. He also had the Institute of Aerospace Safety under him that undertakes institutional training on Flight Safety.
  • Examining and Testing / Quality Control : He commanded the prestigious AEB, only unit in the armed forces that tests all aircrew on yearly basis. He was an Air Force Examiner on MiG-21, Kiran and PC-7 Mk-II and thus has a very strong examining / testing / evaluation background. Additionally, in his last assignment as Air Commodore Aerospace Safety, he also evaluated / audited Flight Safety of IAF.
  • Military Domain : He specializes as a Defence / Air Power Expert, Air Power Theorist, Command Leadership and Management Expert and Op Art Expert. He won the top honours for his performance at ACSC, Australia and Army War College, Mhow.
  • Command Leadership and Management (CLM) and Team Building : He has led large and small teams, with largest team comprising of 5800 personnel. He consistently took his teams to much higher pedestals. Case in point was a Stn which had never won Best in Administration since its establishment in 1964. The Stn was declared Best in Adm in entire command during his tenure. Another Station had last won Best in Maintenance and Best in Adm 17 years back. The Station was turned around and won both awards under him consistently for two years in running along with the award of Best Station / Pride of Command. Another unit was declared as the Best Flying Training Establishment in the entire command under him for two years in running.
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