Nagesh Kapoor

The Air officer is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and the Air Force Academy, Dundigal. He is also an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and the National Defence College, New Delhi.^[7]

He was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on 6 December 1986 from the Air Force Academy.^[8] In a career spanning over three decades, he has more than 3400 hours of flying experience across various fighter jets and has held numerous field & instructional appointments. He is a highly experienced fighter pilot, qualified flying instructor and a fighter combat leader who has flown a variety of combat and trainer aircraft and has flown all variants of MiG-21 and the MiG-29. The Air Marshal's operational tenures include being the Commanding Officer of a fighter squadron in the Central Sector, Station Commander of a flying base in the Western Sector and Air Officer Commanding of a premier air base. He has done instructional tenures as Chief Instructor (Flying) at Air Force Academy and Directing Staff at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. During his tenure at Air Force Academy, the Air Officer was instrumental in the induction and operationalisation of PC-7 MK Il aircraft in the IAF. He has also undertaken a diplomatic assignment as Defence Attaché, Pakistan.^[9]

As an Air Vice Marshal, he served as the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Ops, Strategy) at the Air headquarters, New Delhi, as the Air Officer Commanding of 2 Air Defence Control Centre at Gandhinagar and as the Air Officer Commanding of the Composite Battle Response and Analysis Group.^[10]

After being promoted to the rank of Air Marshal,^[11] he was appointed as the Senior Air Staff Officer of the Central Air Command at Prayagraj. A year later on 1 September 2023, he took over as the Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel.^[6] On 1 May 2024, Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command.^[12] A year later, on 1 May 2025, he took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command succeeding Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari who moved to the Air Headquarters as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff.^[13] He relinquished the command of South Western Air Command on 31 December 2025.

On 1 January 2026, Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor took over as the 50th Vice Chief of the Air Staff succeeding Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari when the latter superannuated on 31 December 2025.^[2]

During his career, the air marshal has been awarded the Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal on Independence Day 2025 for his role during Operation Sindoor,^[14] the Param Vishisht Seva Medal on Republic Day 2025,^[15] the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2022^[16] and the Vayu Sena Medal in 2008.^[17]