By IANS,
New Delhi : With Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik retiring this month-end, other changes are in the offing in the upper echelons with new heads of the eastern and southern commanders being named Friday.
Air Marshal S. Varthaman will move to Shillong as the new chief of the Eastern Air Command in charge of IAF operations in the eastern sector facing China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. He was the senior air and staff officer (SASO) of the IAF’s Allahabad-based Central Air Command and his replacement will be Air Marshal P.S. Gill, the air officer commanding, Jammu and Kashmir.
Varthaman will be joined in Shillong by Air Marshal M. Matheswaran as his SASO. Matheswaran, an assistant chief of air staff at air headquarters here, will replace Air Marshal S.P. Singh, who will take over the Thiruvananthapuram-based Southern Air Command that is responsible for the security of peninsular India and most of the Indian Ocean region.
The government has already named the present IAF vice chief, Air Marshal N.A.K Browne, as the new air chief, while the Eastern Air Command head, Air Marshal K.K. Nowhar, has been named the new vice chief.