Air Marshal Ramesh Rai took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command at Bangalore today. He was commissioned in the fighter stream on 29 Dec 1976. He has over 4500 hrs of flying to his credit and has commanded a Jaguar Squadron. He is an experimental test pilot, flying instructor and recipient of the Majithia trophy and Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) trophy for standing first in pilots course and ‘best in flying’.
He has held important command and staff appointments including Joint Director Air War Strategy Cell (AWSC), Director Air Staff Requirements at Air HQ and as the Defence Attaché at the Embassy of India in Tel Aviv, Israel. Air Marshal Ramesh Rai has commanded the Advance HQ at Kolkata and Air Force Station, Bidar. The HAWK advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) were inducted during his tenure at Air Force Station Bidar wherein he pioneered the training system on the AJT. He has held various important staff and instructional appointments including as Senior Air and Administration Staff Officer of Maintenance Command, and as the Chief Instructor (Air) at Defence Services Staff College(DSSC), Wellington prior to his elevation to the rank of Air Marshal on 01 Jun 12. He served as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of Central Air Command before taking over as AOC-in-C, Training Command. He was awarded the Vayusena Medal(VM) by the President of India on 26 January 99.