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General NS Raja Subramani took charge as India’s new chief of defence staff (CDS) on Sunday, succeeding General Anil Chauhan, who completed his tenure as the country’s senior-most military officer on Saturday. Admiral Krishna Swaminathan also took charge as India’s new Navy chief, succeeding Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, who retired from service.
The appointments come at a crucial time as the armed forces push ahead with theatreisation, a long-awaited reform aimed at bringing together military resources and capabilities for future warfare.
Soon after taking charge, the General Subramani said strengthening the transformation of the armed forces and carrying out organisational reforms to improve tri-services integration and coordination would be among his top priorities.
“We will accelerate the development, induction and integration of indigenous weapons in our armed forces,” he said in a brief media statement.
“Our armed forces consistently demonstrated professionalism and operational decisiveness in safeguarding our national interests. We are committed to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country,” he said.
“I assure citizens of India that armed forces will continue to serve the nation with dedication, courage, honour and professionalism,” he added.
He also said efforts would be made to speed up the development, induction and integration of indigenous weapon systems across the armed forces.
Before taking over as navy chief, Admiral Swaminathan was serving as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command.
“The Indian Navy stands vigilant to protect national interests wherever they are and is very actively deployed in a regional security environment that continues to remain challenging, complex, unpredictable, and uncertain,” Admiral Swaminathan told reporters.
“It shall be my highest priority to ensure that the Indian Navy maintains the highest level of operational readiness and combat effectiveness so that it can protect the nation’s security and economic interests,” he said.
General Subramani is the third Army officer to serve as CDS, after General Bipin Rawat and General Chauhan.
A graduate of the National Defence Academy in Khadakwasla and the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, he was commissioned into the 8th Battalion of the Garhwal Rifles on December 14, 1985.
He is one year junior to Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi and Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, who are due to retire in June and October, respectively.
The new CDS is expected to fast-track the creation of joint services commands, one of the central goals of the theatreisation programme. These commands are intended to bring personnel, assets and operational resources from the Army, Navy and Air Force under a single commander-in-chief.
Admiral Swaminathan is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, the Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham, United Kingdom, the College of Naval Warfare in Karanja, and the US Naval War College in Rhode Island.
His tenure comes as India moves towards finalising a multi-billion-dollar deal to build next-generation conventional submarines within the country.
With inputs from agencies
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