On the eve of his elevation as Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit is the sole officer from his batch in the IAF’s top hierarchy. Currently serving as Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, he was commissioned in December 1986 and will take over from Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, who retires on October 31.The next two senior-most IAF officers are Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command, and Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff. Both were commissioned in June 1987.Air Marshal Tejinder Singh was elevated as AOC-in-C in May 2025, when he took over as the Training Command Chief. In January 2026, Air Marshal Srinivas became AOC-in-C Training Command.Air Marshal Inderpal Singh Walia, a June 1988 seniority officer who was appointed as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command in February 2026, will take over as the Vice Chief.When Gen Dhiraj Seth was appointed Chief of the Army Staff in June this year, there was only a narrow seniority gap between him and his coursemate, Lt Gen Manjinder Singh. Both were commissioned in December 1986. Gen Seth edged ahead on two parameters: his personal service number and his appointment as an Army Commander a month earlier than Lt Gen Manjinder Singh.Gen Seth was appointed GOC-in-C of the South Western Command in Jaipur on November 1, 2023, while Lt Gen Manjinder Singh took over as GOC-in-C of the Army Training Command in Shimla on December 1, 2023.In terms of personal service numbers, or “IC numbers”, which are allotted based on a cadet’s position in the order of merit at the time of commissioning, Gen Seth was senior by 21 positions. The service number is a key determinant of seniority when other parameters are similar.At present, the IAF has 10 officers at the AOC-in-C level, including the Air Chief designate. The Vice Chiefs of all three services and the heads of various commands are equivalent in status. Among them, Air Marshal Yalla Umesh, a technical officer, heads the Maintenance Command, while Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja, a medical officer, is the Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services.The remaining AOC-in-Cs are all from the fighter stream. At present, there is no officer from the transport or helicopter stream in the IAF’s top hierarchy. Although all flying-branch AOC-in-Cs are considered while selecting the Air Chief, with seniority-cum-merit being the guiding criterion, the principle of seniority has generally been followed in making the top appointment.Of the 29 officers who have headed the Indian Air Force since August 15, 1947, including three British officers who served until March 1954, all but one has been from the fighter stream. The exception was Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, a helicopter pilot who led the IAF from March 2007 to May 2009.When Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi retired, Air Chief Marshal Major, then serving as AOC-in-C of the Eastern Command in Shillong, was the senior-most Air Marshal. A Mi-17 pilot, he was a veteran of the Siachen and Sri Lanka operations and was decorated twice for gallantry.The government has largely followed the practice of appointing the senior-most eligible commander, barring a few exceptions. According to historical accounts, Air Marshal MM Engineer, a Maha Vir Chakra recipient and younger brother of former Air Chief Apsy Engineer, was passed over when Air Marshal Om Prakash Mehra was appointed Air Chief in 1973.In 1988, Air Marshal MM Singh, then heading the Western Air Command and the senior-most Air Marshal, was superseded by Air Marshal SK Mehra following the retirement of Air Chief Marshal Denis A. La Fontaine.The last major deviation from the principle of seniority came in 2016, when Gen Bipin Rawat, who later became the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff, was appointed Army Chief, superseding two other Army Commanders.