Israel Names Veteran Fighter Pilot Tomer Bar as Next Air Force Commander
by Sharon Wrobel
Israel has picked Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar to lead the Israeli Air Force (AIF) as its new commander, the country’s army announced on Monday.
The country’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved Bar’s nomination by the Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi.
Bar, 52, is expected to replace Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin as the next commander of the IAF in the coming months. Norkin has served as the commander of the IAF over the past four years.
Bar was drafted into the IAF flight academy in 1987 and completed his training in the academy’s fighter division with honors. During his years of army service, he held a variety of senior field and command positions, including commander of the Tel Nof airbase, commander of the flight school, head of the operations department and commander of the Golden Eagle, the Scorpion, the Knights of the Double Tail and the Hammer squadrons.
Between 2014 and 2017, Bar served as head of the Air Force Operations division. In October 2017, he took over as Chief of Staff of the IAF. Bar, a graduate of the National Security College is married and has four children.