Indian-born Ravi Chaudhary wins Mandate as Assistant Secretary of US Air Force, US Senators voted 65-29

The United Nations Senators voted for the Indian-American Ravi Chaudhary for the post of Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force. On March 15, 2023 (Wednesday) he won the bid by 65-29 votes. His position has thus been confirmed in the Defence sector of the US Air Force.

Ravi Chaudhary has previously been a flight test engineer and now he will be administering one of the top-notch civilian positions as a leader in the Pentagon.

US Senate has confirmed Indian-American Ravi Chaudhary as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Air Force. #JoeBiden #RaviChaudhary #USNews #America b @DcWalaDesi @JeniferRajkumar @CongressmanRaja @CongressJackson @BobLancia @_nirajshah @AskAnshul pic.twitter.com/gUjDQ0CGPF

— Ravi Karkara (@ravikarkara) March 16, 2023

Even the opposition Republican Party cast multiple votes in his favour. Ravi Chaudhary has also served as a Senior Executive at the US Department of Transportation where he was the Director of Advanced Programs and Innovation, Office of Commercial Space at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Ravi’s Various Contributions

Earlier, in his job posts, he was responsible for implementing advanced development as well as research programmes in support of the FAA’s commercial space transportation mission. At the transportation department, he was the Executive Director of the regions and centre operations. During this service, he carefully inspected the integration and support of aviation operations and this was assigned in 9 regions.

65-29, Senate confirmed the nomination of Ravi Chaudhary, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force. Rollcall Vote #58 https://t.co/SOmYJ3Dv4t

— U.S. Senate Updates (@SenateFloor) March 15, 2023

Senior Positions held by Ravi

In the US Air Force between 1993 to 2015, Ravi Chaudhary accomplished multiple senior staff assignments including operational, engineering, and other designations. When he was a C-17 pilot, he extensively handled global flight operations for instance numerous combat missions in Afghanistan as well as Iraq.

He also managed ground deployment as the Director of the Personnel Recovery Centre at multi-national corporations in Iraq. While he served as a flight test engineer and there he was widely responsible for flight certification of military avionics and hardware. It was for the force's modernisation programmes and at the same time ensuring flight safety. 

He began his career advocating space launch operations for the Global Positioning System (GPS). Moreover, he conducted third-stage and flight safety activities in order to guarantee the full operational capability of the first GPS constellation.

As a systems engineer, Chaudhary provided his abiding assistance to NASA’s International Space Station where he led various protection activities for the safety of NASA astronauts. Then, he worked as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during Barack Obama’s rule. During this role, he counselled the President on Executive branch efforts to improve veterans’ support for the AAPI Community. 

Educational Backgrounds

Talking about Ravi’s education, he earned his Doctorate with a Specialisation in Executive Leadership and Innovation from the Georgetown University D.L.S. Program. Also, he has an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from St. Mary’s University as a NASA graduate fellow and an M.A. in Operational Arts and Military Science from Air University. 

He has a B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the US Air Force Academy. Ravi is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and further holds certifications in programme management, test and evaluation, and systems engineering in the Department of Defence.

Also Read: India’s First Railway Tea Stall operated by Transgender Community, Business Tycoon Anand Mahindra lauds initiative