Indian-American and former Air Force Officer Ravi Chaudhary has been appointed as the Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force.                         

Indian-American Ravi Chaudhary has been appointed as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Air Force by the United States Senate. Assumed to be one of the top civilian leadership positions in the Pentagon, the Senate voted 65-29 to confirm the nomination of the former Air Force Officer.

Mr. Chaudhary served as a Senior Executive at the US Department of Transportation and Director of Advanced Programs and Innovation at the office of Commercial Space at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He also worked as the executive director of the regions and center operations in the transportation department, looking over the integration and support of aviation operations in almost nine regions.

With an extended service of nearly 22 years in the US Air Force, Mr. Chaudhary has initiated varied operational, engineering, and senior staffing assignments. He also conducted global flight operations like integrated combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq as a C-17 pilot, in addition to his role as the director of the personnel recovery center at multi-national corps in Iraq.  

Mr. Chaudhary also served as a flight test engineer, undertaking the responsibility for flight certification of military avionics and hardware, in the modernization programs of the force, supporting safety. He favored extended support for space launch operations alongside the global positioning system (GPS), leading third-stage and flight safety activities to ensure the full operational capability of the first GPS constellation.

He also assisted in the International Space Station protection activities of NASA, ensuring the safety of astronauts, and served as a member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) during Obama’s Administration, where he acted as the president’s Advisor on executive branch efforts in improving veterans’ support for the AAPI community.

Mr. Chaudhary is a certified Doctorate in executive leadership and Innovation from the Georgetown University DLS Program, an MS degree in Industrial Engineering from St. Mary’s University, and a NASA graduate. He also holds an MA in Operational Arts and Military Science from Air University, and a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from the esteemed US Air Force Academy. He graduated from the Federal Executive Institute, with an approved certification from the Department of Defense acquisition certifications in program management, testing, evaluation, and system monitoring.