Air Marshal Mehtab Singh Deswal, AVSM, VM, has taken over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the Indian Air Force's Eastern Air Command, the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday. The command is headquartered in Shillong and controls air operations along India's eastern frontier.

He comes to Shillong from Gandhinagar, where he was Senior Air Staff Officer of South Western Air Command.

Air Marshal Mehtab Singh Deswal succeeds Air Marshal Inderpal Singh Walia

The post fell vacant when Air Marshal Inderpal Singh Walia moved to Air Headquarters in New Delhi as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, also with effect from Sunday. Air Marshal Walia had led the Eastern Air Command since he assumed charge on 1 February 2026, after an earlier tenure in the same headquarters as Senior Air Staff Officer.

It is the third change at the top of the IAF in two days. Air Chief Marshal Ashutosh Dixit took over as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff on Saturday, a day before the new Vice Chief and the new Eastern Air Command chief stepped in.

A fighter pilot commissioned in 1989

Air Marshal Deswal was commissioned as a fighter pilot on 14 June 1989, according to service records. He has flown the Hunter, Jaguar, Su-30K and Su-30MKI, and had logged more than 3,200 hours by 2011.

In 1997 he was part of the core team that brought the Su-30K into IAF service. He later commanded a fighter squadron and oversaw its re-equipment with the Su-30MKI. Under his command, the squadron won the team event bombing trophy at Central Air Command's Exercise Eklavya in 2009-10, the records show. The squadron also performed well in inspections by the Aircrew Examining Board and the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection.

Vayu Sena Medal on Republic Day 2011

That tenure earned him the Vayu Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), announced on Republic Day 2011, when he was a Group Captain. He has since been awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.

He has commanded two wings and served at Strategic Forces Command

As an Air Commodore, he commanded No 45 Wing at Sirsa and No 33 Wing at Jamnagar.

After promotion to Air Vice Marshal, he served as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Inspection) at Air Headquarters from August 2022 to July 2024. He then moved to the Strategic Forces Command in Delhi as Chief Staff Officer (Air Vector Strategy), a tri-service post.

As an Air Marshal, he was Director General (Weapon Systems) at Air Headquarters from June to December 2025, before moving to Gandhinagar on 1 January 2026.

Eastern Air Command watches the eastern and northeastern skies

The Eastern Air Command is one of the IAF's five operational commands. Its area covers the eastern and northeastern states that border China, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited its headquarters in June, when he addressed air warriors on preparedness and self-reliance.

The command began as No 1 Operational Group in Kolkata in 1958. Its headquarters moved to Shillong after the 1962 conflict and started functioning there on 10 June 1963.