On 8 May 2007, the IISS hosted a Special Round Table Discussion with Air Chief Marshal (retd) S P Tyagi, former Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee & Chief of the Air Staff, India. Air Chief Marshal Tyagi spoke on 'Air Power and India's Security'.
Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi was Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee & Chief of the Air Staff, India, till April 2007. He was appointed Chief of the Air Staff on December 31, 2004, and took over as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee in late 2006.
Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi was commissioned in the Indian Air Force on December 31, 1963 as a pilot in the fighter stream. In a career spanning nearly 45 years, he held key command, staff and instructional appointments. A veteran of the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars, he has flown both Folland Gnat and Hawker Hunter aircraft. He was among the first batch of eight pilots selected for conversion on the Jaguar interdiction aircraft when it was inducted in the Indian Air Force in the 1980s. Whilst training at Lossiemouth, he was chosen for a course at Coltishall with No. 41 Squadron RAF.
A graduate of the prestigious Indian Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) - where he later was an Instructor - and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, southern India, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi served as Director (Operations), Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) and Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations) at Air Headquarters in New Delhi. Prior to his appointment as Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi has had the distinction of serving as the Air Officer Commander-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of three Air Force Commands - the Delhi-based Western Command, the Allahabad-based Central Command and the Gandhinagar-based South Western Command.
Air Chief Marshal Tyagi is the first Chief of Air Staff to become para qualified with the completion of the para syllabus in October 2005. On the occasion of the Presidential Fleet Review coinciding with the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Indian Air Force on March 8, 2007, Air Chief Marshal Tyagi made a unique entry by para-jumping from a helicopter, along with 74 others.
