BIO Two Page

BIO DATA

AIR MARSHAL ASHOK GOEL (Retd.) PVSM AVSM VM


Air Marshal Ashok Goel PVSM AVSM VM was born on 26th September 1943 in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh.

Air Marshal Ashok Goel is a topper of BSc (Hons) in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry from Govind Ballabh Pant University, Pantnagar (UP) now in Uttrakhand, in Feb 1963, he was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a Transport Pilot on 31 December 1963.

The Air Officer has held several prestigious staff appointments at Air HQ with distinction. This include Deputy Director Operations, Joint Director Operations and Director Operation, Transport & Helicopters.

In 1984 he was appointed as the team leader of the group of personnel selected to be trained in the erstwhile USSR to facilitate the induction of the strategic lift II-76 in the IAF, resulting his posting as first Commanding Officer of the II-76 formed at Agra. Who had the privilege of first landing at Leh on 14 October 1985, Thoise runway on a mere 1700 m length runway on 30 Jan 1987, Jaffan on 31 July 1987 as overall commander during Sri Lanka operation, Male on 03 Nov 1988 is support of operation Cactus.
The Air Officer has commanded two major transport bases of the Indian Air Force i.e.
(a) Air Force Station Agra commanding approx. 325 officers and 5000 personnel during 1991-1992.

(b) Air Force Station Chandigarh 1992-1994.

He has undergone the Higher Command Course at the college of Combat, Mhow in 1981 and the Senior Defence Management Course at the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad in 1990. In 1994 he underwent the 34th National Security Course at the National Defence College, New Delhi following which he held the appointment of senior Air Staff Officer, HQ J & K.
Thereafter he was appointed as the Operations Manager, Aviation Research Centre (ARC) at RAW. He interacted very closely with foreign aviation companies and underwent specialized training on the Boeing 707 at Tel Aviv, Israel and the Gulf Stream – III at USA.

He was the Chief Instructor (Air) at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington from January 2000 to March 2001. He was appointed the Guide and Examiner for M Phil & PhD students for Defence Studies by the Madras University for 3 yrs.
Air Marshal Ashok Goel has more than 10,000 hours of operational flying to his credit on different types of aircrafts, which include Dakota, Packet, An-32, II– 76, B-200, Learjet, Gulf Stream-III and

Boeing–707. His flying experience includes overseas trips to countries like Bangladesh, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Iraq, Israel, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Turkey, USSR, UAE and UK.

The Air Officer has been decorated on many occasions. He has been awarded the following Commendations and Presidential Awards :-

(a) Commendation by the chief of Air Staff in October 1976.
(b) Commendation by Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command in October 1979.
(c) Vayu Sena Medal in January 1988.
(d) Ati Vishist Seva Medal in January 1994.
(e) Param Vishist Seva Medal in January 2003.

Air Marshal Ashok Goel retired from the IAF on 30 September 03 after a glorious span of close to 40 years of service. His last appointment was Inspector General of the Indian Air Force.

Presently he is engaged as a “Social Entrepreneur”. He is engaged as

(a) Defence & Security Analyst & Commentator.
(b) Adviser & Consultant – Aviation Studies & Aviation Management.
(c) Adviser Consultant – HR Development & Management.
(d) Aviation Editor and Member Editorial Board of two National Magazine ‘India Strategic and South Asia Defence Strategic Review’.
(e) National Trustee –Special Olympic, Bharat.
(f) Chairman– Special Olympic, Bharat (U.P Chapter).
(g) Member Organizing Committee – Common Wealth Games 2010.
(h) Patron – “Initiative for Social Transformation” – NGO.
(i) Patron – Defence Officers Association – Bareilly.
(j) Member, Board of Directors, Sadhna Centre for Management & Leadership Development, Pune.
(k) Social Educator.

A very keen sports person and regularly plays, Golf, Tennis and Squash and keeps himself physically fit.