Browne new Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee

Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne took over as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, from Admiral Nirmal Verma on the latter`s superannuation.

New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne on Friday took over as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, from Admiral Nirmal Verma on the latter`s superannuation.

In another senior appointment, Vice-Admiral S P S Cheema took over as chief of the tri-services Integrated Defence Staff. The IAF Chief, who is the senior-most of the three Services heads, was handed over the charge of Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, by Admiral Verma at a ceremony here. It was due to this ceremony that ACM Browne could not go to Jamnagar yesterday itself after nine IAF personnel lost their lives there in a mid-air collision involving two helicopters. The Airforce chief is taking over as the COSC at a time when the three Services are working towards increasing jointness in their operations and procurement procedures. Meanwhile, Vice-Admiral Cheema, a specialist gunnery officer, also assumed office today as the head of the tri-services organisation. He was commissioned into the Navy in January 1977 and is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington and the College of Naval Warfare (CNW), Mumbai. The Vice-Admiral has spent majority of his time on afloat appointments. He also commanded missile corvette INS Khanjar and India`s only aircraft carrier INS Viraat. PTI