Kochi: Vice-Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla has been appointed as the next Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command. He is presently the Chief of Personnel at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Navy), at Delhi. He would be taking over from Vice Admiral A.R. Karve on July 31.
The Admiral is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, who was commissioned in the Navy on January 1982. He is a Navigation and Direction specialist and has commanded five ships in his career, including the now decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat. His important staff appointments ashore include instructor at National...
Defence Academy and Senior Instructor (Navy) at the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington, Ooty.
The officer has also been the Defence Attaché in the Embassy of India at Jakarta, Indonesia where he was instrumental in the signing of the India-Indonesia Defence Agreement in 2001. He has also been the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet.
The officer, as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy & Plans), was responsible for the formulation of the Maritime Capability Perspective Plan 2012-27 and the first Maritime Infrastructure Perspective Plan for the navy besides envisaging the process for 'IN-DRDO Synergy' which has now been institutionalised. The admiral, as the Director General of Naval Operations oversaw “Op-Rahat”, which involved the evacuation of Indian as well as foreign nationals from war-torn Yemen in Apr 2015.
