Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman ndc, fawc, psc
Born 1955 (age 53–54)
Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman ndc, fawc, psc
Place of birth	Gopalganj
Allegiance	Bangladesh
Service/branch	Bangladesh Air Force
Years of service	1976-Present
Rank	Air Marshal
Commands held	25 Squadron, BAF 35 Squadron, BAF Air Officer commanding, Paharkanchanpur Air Officer Commanding, Bashar Air Officer Commandind, Jahurul Huq A/Chief of Air Staff (Operations & Training) Chief of Air Staff

Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman ndc, fawc, psc (born 1955) is the first ever Air Marshal and present Chief of Staff for Bangladesh Air Force. He is preceded by Air Vice Marshal Fakhrul Azam ndc, psc

Contents 1 Early life 2 Recognition 3 Air commands 4 Personal life 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Early life

Air Marshal Zia was born in Gopalgonj in 1955. He joined Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) as a flight cadet on March 10, 1975 and commissioned on December 29, 1976 in General Duties (Pilot) shortly GD(P) branch .

Air Marshal Zia graduated from the Defence Services Command & Staff College in Dhaka in 1991 and from Pakistan Air War College in 1992. He also finished his graduation from National Defence College, Pakistan in 2001. Afterwards he participated in the seminars for “Executive Course” at USA Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies and the “Military and Peace Keeping Operation in Accordance with Rule of Law Course” in Rhode Island, USA in 2003 and 2006 repectively.

[edit] Recognition

Air Marshal Zia is a qualified fighter pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor of BAF who has 2400 flying hours to his credit. He flew almost all types of fighter aircraft in BAF including MiG-21MF, A-5IIIA, F-6, F-7MB, L-39ZA, FT-5, FT-6, FT-7B including Bell Helicopters.

[edit] Air commands

Air Marshal Zia has held command positions with most of the air suadrons of Bangladesh Air Force. He successfully commanded BAF's two fighter squadrons 25 & 35 squadron.

Zia also held a range of staff command positions including Air Officer commanding, Paharkanchanpur, Air Officer Commanding, Bashar and Air Officer Commandind, Jahurul Huq. He also served as Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations & Training) at air headquarters prior to the Chief of Air Staff.

Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman ndc, fawc, psc was promoted from air commodore to air vice-marshal and appointed as the Chief of Air Staff on 8 April 2007 [1], and promoted to Air Marshal on 23 May of the same year. As Chief of Staff he has supported the introduction of new technology for the operation of air crafts, and a modernisation of the ageing Bangladesh air fleet. He has initiated modern Evaluation system in BAF that resulted in a revolutionery improvements in Flying out put and Research and Development sectors. 'The modern objective method of Performance based Evaluation and Tactical Evaluation system is giving BAF a new dimension of sustainable development'. BAF has created new milestone in flying performance since its independence during his present tenure as the Chief of Air Staff (COAS).

After the crash of the BAF training aircraft in which Flight Cadet Faisal Mahmood was killed, Ziaur Rahman visited the site of the crash.^[1] Ziaur Rahman also took part in the funeral honours (Namaz -e- Janazah) He assurred the Bangladeshi President and supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Iajuddin Ahmed of his full co-operation in the matter.^[2]

[edit] Personal life

Air Marshal Zia is married and blessed with one son and one daughter. He is an excellent Golfer and working for promoting the National Hockey team for better future.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Military of Bangladesh

Military offices
Preceded by Fakhrul Azam	Chief of Air Staff 2007 –	Incumbent