Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari was commissioned in the
Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot on 29 December 1982 from the
Air Force Academy, Dundigal. During his career spanning over four decades, he has held various staff and instructional appointments and served in a wide spectrum of terrain. He is a Category 'A'
qualified flying instructor, and Instrument Rating Instructor and examiner. He has a flying experience of over 3800 hours on various fighter aircraft including
MiG-21,
MiG-23MF,
MiG-29 and
Su-30MKI. He was also a pioneer member of the
Surya Kiran Aerobatic Display Team. As a fighter pilot, he flew operational missions during
Operation Meghdoot and
Operation Safed Sagar. He has commanded the MiG-29 squadron,
No. 28 Squadron IAF at
Jamnagar and the forward base in
Awantipora in
Jammu and Kashmir. He also served as the chief operations officer of the
Srinagar Air Force Station.
Flag officer As an
Air commodore, he served as the Air assistant to the then
Chief of Air Staff,
Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik. He subsequently commanded the
Lohegaon Air base in
Pune. He has also served as an instructor at DSSC Wellington as well as Defence Services Command and Staff College at
Lusaka,
Zambia. He subsequently was appointed the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers). On 2 October 2018 he took over as the Deputy Chief of Air Staff at Air Headquarters, New Delhi. On 1 August 2020, he took over as the
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command succeeding
Air Marshal Balakrishnan Suresh. He retired on 30 September 2024 after four decades of service and was succeeded by Air Marshal
Amar Preet Singh. == Honours and decorations ==