Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar assumes charge as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff

NEW DELHI: Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar on Wednesday assumed charge as the Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. Vice Admiral P Ajit Kumar handed over the baton to his successor in a formal ceremony held at the Naval Headquarters in South Block in Delhi. Vice Admiral P Ajit Kumar will be heading to Mumbai later on Wednesday afternoon to take over as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command on Thursday.

Vice Admiral Kumar is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Pune. He was commissioned into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy on 01 July 1982.

A highly decorated officer, Vice Admiral Kumar has steered various challenging Staff and Command assignments during his Naval career spanning over three decades. 

After having completed his specialisation in Navigation and Direction at Kochi in 1989, he served as the Navigating Officer of Indian Naval Ships Beas, Nilgiri, Ranvir and Vikrant. His other sea tenures include Commanding Officer of INS Kulish and Ranvir, and Executive Officer onboard INS Brahmaputra. 

Among his shore tenures, the important ones include Staff officer at Indian Naval Work-up team, Head of Training Team (Navy) at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington and as Defence Advisor at the High Commission of India in Singapore. He has also been the Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of the Western Naval Command. 

On promotion to Flag rank, he has held the important assignments of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), Chief of Staff (COS) of Southern Naval Command and Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat (FOMAG). 

In the rank of Vice Admiral he has been the Commandant of the National Defence Academy, Pune.