Air Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne will be the new Chief of the Air Staff. He will assume office on retirement of Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik on July 31.
Air Marshal Browne, who will turn 60 on December 15 this year, is a fighter pilot with a varied operational experience, including flying Hunters, all variants of the MiG21s, Jaguars and Sukhoi-30, logging about 3,100 hours, the Defence Ministry said.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla in Pune, he had served as an instructor at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment and the Tri-services Defence Services Staff College in Wellington.
A graduate of the Air Command and Staff College at Albama in the United States, Air Marshal Browne trained with the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom on Jaguar aircraft and later commanded a Jaguar squadron.
During his 38 years with the IAF, he held various operational and staff appointments that include Joint Director at the Air War Strategy Cell at the Air Headquarters, Chief Operations Officer and Air Officer Commanding of a SU-30 base, Air-I at the New Delhi-based Western Air Command (WAC) and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence) at the Air Headquarters.
In April 1997, he established the Indian Defence Wing in Tel Aviv and served as the Defence Attache till July 2000. Between 2007 and 2009, as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at the Air Headquarters, he oversaw the lAF's major modernisation programmes.
Before joining the Air headquarters this January as the Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, he headed the WAC. Air Marshal Browne has been decorated with Param Vishist Seva Medal, Ati Vishist Seva Medal, Vayu Sena Medal. He is appointed as one of the Honorary ADCs to the President of India.
He is married to Kiran Browne. They have a son, Omar, who is a fighter pilot in the IAF, and daughter Alisha, who works for a multinational company.
