R. K. S. Bhadauria Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Full name	Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria
Nickname	Chhotu
Profession(s)	• Indian Air Force Personnel (Fighter Pilot) • Politician
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	5' 5" (165 cm)
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Politics
Political Party	Bharatiya Janata Party (March 2024-present)
Political Journey	• 24 March 2024 - Joined the Bharatiya Janata Party
Awards	• January 2002 - Vayu Sena Medal • January 2013 - Ati Vishisht Seva Medal • January 2018 - Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Personal Life
Date of Birth	15 September 1959 (Tuesday)
Age (as of 2023)	64 Years
Birthplace	Korath, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
Zodiac sign	Virgo
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Agra
College/University	• Command and Staff College, Bangladesh • National Defence Academy, Pune
Educational Qualification	A master's degree in Defence Studies
Caste	Rajput
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	Year, 1986
Family
Wife/Spouse	Asha Bhadauria (President of Air Force Wives Welfare Association)
Children	Son- Sourabh (commercial pilot) Daughter- Sonali (IAF Pilot)
Parents	Father- Suraj Pal Singh Bhadauria (retired Master Warrant Officer) Mother- Vidhya Vati
Siblings	Brother- Rajeev Bhadauria (younger) Sister(s)- 2 (elder) • Kusum Chauhan • Kiran Raghav

Some Lesser Known Facts About R. K. S. Bhadauria

• R. K. S. Bhadauria attended the 56 NDA Course from 1976 to 1979 and graduated with the Sword of Honour for attaining first rank in overall merit.

• On 15 June 1980, he was commissioned into the fighter department of the Indian Air Force.

• R. K. S. Bhadauria has over 4,250 hours of flying experience on 26 types of different fighters and transport aircraft and is an Experimental Test Pilot, Cat ‘A’ qualified flying instructor, and pilot attack instructor.

• Some of the important aircraft that he has flown include the MiG-21s and Jaguars.

• His flying career in IAF began with flying the MiG-21 at Halwara, Punjab with the No 23 Squadron ‘Panthers.’
  

  R. K. S. Bhadauria at the No 23 Squadron Panthers unit

• On 15 June 1981, he was posted as a flying officer in the Indian Air Force. Four years later, he was promoted to the rank of flight lieutenant.

• On 15 June 1991, he was promoted to the senior officer rank of Squadron Leader.

• On 5 May 1997, he was promoted to the senior officer rank of Wing Commander.

• From 03 May 1999 to 17 July 2001, he was appointed as the Commanding Officer of No.5 Squadron unit of the Indian Air Force located in Ambala.

• In May 2003, he was appointed as the Group Captain and served as the leader of the 12 Forward Base Support Unit.

• On 1 January 2008, he was promoted to air officer rank of Air commodore.

• From 7 Apr 2008 to 19 Apr 2011, he served as the Air Attache of the Embassy of India located in Moscow, Russia.

• On 1 January 2011, he was promoted to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal, the third-highest active rank in the Indian Air Force.

• On 1 August 2014, he was promoted to the rank of Air Marshal, the second-highest active rank in the Indian Air Force.
  

  R. K. S. Bhadauria reviewing the preparations of an operation as the Air Marshal

• In 2015, he was appointed as the Senior Air Staff officer at the Central Air Command unit in Allahabad.

• From 1 January 2016 to 28 February 2017, he served as the Deputy Chief of Air Staff of PSO: Planning, Air HQ located in Delhi.

• In 2016, he headed the talks and negotiations of Rs. 59,000-crore deal between India and France for 36 multi-role Rafale fighter aircraft.

• The tail number of the first all-weather multirole fighter jet Rafale of India is RB-01, which represents R. K. S. Bhadauria’s name initials. It is a tribute to R. K. S. Bhadauria for his contribution to the Rafale deal.

• From 1 August 2018, he served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of Southern Air Command (SAC) after the retirement of Air Marshal S. R. K. Nair and held the office till his appointment as the Air Chief Marshal.
  

  R. K. S. Bhadauria serving as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

• On 30 September 2019, he became the Air Chief Marshal of India and retired after completing the tenure of 3 years in September 2021.

• Bhadauria has commanded a Jaguar Squadron and a premier Air Force base in the South Western Sector.

• During his tenure as Chief of Air Staff, he supervised various self-reliance initiatives of the Indian Air Force.

• He put across IAF’s point of view and led the discussions on the creation of integrated theatre commands on behalf of IAF.

• In July 2021, R. K. S. Bhadauria got involved in a disagreement with former Chief of Staff of the Indian Army General Bipin Rawat at the Global Counter Terrorism Council event over his remark about the IAF, which stated that IAF is just a ‘support arm’ of the Indian Army similar to artillery support or the engineer support in the combatant arms. He contradicted Rawat’s statement and said,
  

  It is not a supporting role alone. The airpower has a huge role to play. In any of the integrated battle areas, it’s not an issue of support alone.” ^[1]India Today

• He has headed some of the most important assignments, which include acting as the Commanding Officer of a Flight Test Squadron at the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, Chief Test Pilot, and Project Director of the National Flight Test Centre on Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project.

• He was involved in the initial prototype flight tests on Tejas and has played a major role in the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme.

• In January 2019, he was appointed as the honorary Aide De Campe to the President of India.

• R. K. S. Bhadauria’s grandfather, Shobran Singh, served as a member of the Royal British Army in World War II.

• In February 2021, R. K. S. Bhadauria was inducted into the ‘Mirpur Hall of Fame’ at the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC), Dhaka.

CAS was inducted in the 'Mirpur Hall of Fame' at Defence Services Command and Staff College, Bangladesh. He is a proud alumnus of DSCSC and attended the 18th Air Staff Course at Mirpur in 1997-98. pic.twitter.com/Og8OJ4V7Vp

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 24, 2021

• He designed a method for carrying out bombing from the Jaguar aircraft using Global Positioning System (GPS) which went on to play an important role during Operation Safed Sagar.

• He submitted his research work papers on the utilization of Airborne Warning And Control Systems (AWACS) and night formation flying.