New IAF Chief Browne - beginning of new era

New Delhi, July 30, 2011: As Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne takes over as the new Indian Air Force (IAF) chief on July 31 he will mark the beginning of a new era. He will be the first chief in the Indian armed forces to have been commissioned after the 1971 war. 

Born in Allahabad on December 15, 1971, he got commissioned in the fighter stream of the IAF on June 24, 1972.

He will be passed on the baton by Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, who got into the service in 1969, two years before the full fledged Indo-Pak war that led to the birth of a new country Bangladesh.

With this change of guard, candid statements by the IAF chief like – “Yeh koi chunnu munnu air force nahi (This is no rag-tag air force), will be a thing of pass. “No-nonsense” and “measured” that is how people in the IAF describe NAK Browne, or fondly called as “Charlie” Browne in the IAF.

He has often heard as telling his peers that it was his love for the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schullz that got him the nickname of “Charlie Browne” after the world famous cartoon character. People close to him say that the new air chief resembles a lot the comic strip protagonist in terms of “ethos and strength” and takes on every challenge head on.

So much so, just like the character Browne loves his dogs and he has four of them - two Boxers named Leo and Elsa, one Saint Bernard called Nawab and the latest entrant in the family an English Bulldog Tyson. Leaving a busy schedule, it is his pets that help him beat the stress.

NAK Browne believes that “nothing comes easy in life”, and based on this principle he is ready to go that extra mile. Owing to this attitude, Browne has added many a first to his credit during his professional career spanning 38 years.

Browne has got varied operational experience that included flying Hunters, all variants of MiG-21s, Jaguars and Su-30s and a commendable 3100 flying hours under his belt.

Browne as a young Flight Lieutenant was amongst the first two batches of pilots who went to the United Kingdom (UK) to get trained for the British-built ground strike fighter jets Jaguars. He brought the aircraft from Britain to India. Later on he went on to command Jaguar’s 14 Squadron based at Ambala.

Then in 1997 he was helped in laying down strong foundations for defence ties with Israel. He was responsible for establishing the Indian Defence Wing in Tel Aviv in April 1997. He served as the Defence Attaché there till July 2000. Today Israel is amongst the top 5 defence exporters to Indian Armed Forces. Both the countries are even collaborating to co-develop a Long-Range Surface-to-Air missile, which will be tested this year.

Before taking over as the Vice Chief, Browne was heading the Sword Arm of the force- the Western Air Command (WAC). During his tenure as the Air-Officer-Commanding in Chief, Browne under his command and supervision, made the An-32 transport aircraft to land on Nyoma Advance Landing Ground (ALG) for the first time on Sep 18, 2009. Just 27 kms from Indo-China border, Nyoma airfield is at an altitude of 13,300 feet and has been lying unused since the fateful 1962 war with the neighbor on the east.

With the reviving of the Nyoma airfield, Browne managed to send a signal across the border about the capacity of the IAF. In fact, proposal has been made to make the airfield a full-fledged fighter base.