Lt Gen Pranab Kumar Bharali appointed as Director General of Army Aviation Corps

Lt Gen Pranab Kumar Bharali has been appointed as the Director General of Army Aviation Corps at the Army Headquarters, Delhi.

Bharali, a recipient of the Vishist Seva Medal, is the first Army officer from Assam to rise to the rank of Lt General and earlier in 2009 he was the first person from North East to be promoted to the rank of Major General in the fighting arms of the Army, a statement said on Tuesday.

An alumnus of Sainik School Goalpara in Assam, Bharali graduated from the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla and was commissioned as an officer in the Army in June 1977. He became a helicopter pilot and subsequently a flying instructor in the Army and commanded a helicopter.

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He held the post of the General Staff Officer (Operations) of a Counter Insurgency Force Headquarter, Colonel Administration of a Division Headquarter and Brigadier Aviation in a command Headquarter in Jammu and Kashmir before assuming the post of Head of Army Aviation Corps in his capacity as the Additional Director General.

Army Aviation Corps operates the army's helicopter fleet which comprises more than 280 Cheetah, Chetak, Dhruv and Rudra helicopters. The Army has plans to equip this corps with attack helicopters, larger transport helicopters and replace the existing light helicopters which will give a boost to the military capability of the nation, the statement said.