Vice Admiral MS Pawar takes over as Chief of staff, Eastern Naval Command

Vice Admiral MS Pawar, AVSM, VSM took over as the Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval Command from Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain today, 11 December 2017.  In the course of his distinguished career, Vice Admiral Pawar has held various Operational, Staff and Command Appointments.
Vice Admiral Pawar is an alumnus of the Sainik School, Korukonda where he was the school Vice Captain and is the first Vice Admiral from the School.  A 1978 UPSC Batch science graduate from 60^th Course of National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, he was adjudged ‘Best all round Cadet’ during his Naval training and subsequently completed the year-long Sub-Lieutenant Technical Course standing first overall.

He specialised in Navigation and Direction, topping the prestigious Course and has had wide-ranging experience in sea going billets onboard diverse platforms ranging from small ships to aircraft carrier for 25 years.  As the Navigating Officer of INS Magar, he participated in ‘Op Pawan’ (Sri Lanka) in 1989-90. He was the Fleet Navigating Officer of the Western Fleet during the ‘Kargil War’ in 1999.  He was the Fleet Operations Officer, Western Fleet when the Indian Navy undertook its largest deployment to the Atlantic Ocean and also commenced anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.

He has had the privilege of commanding four frontline ships including the indigenously built INS Nashak as the Commissioning Commanding Officer, INS Kuthar, INS Talwar and also the Flag Ship of the Mauritius National Coast Guard – Vigilant, which was a dual-hatted appointment as the Squadron Commander of the No. 1 Patrol Vessel Squadron, comprising five ships.  He was also the Commandant, NCG Mauritius in 2003. His Joint Services tenures include one at the NDA, as an instructor and at HQIDS as Deputy Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Maritime).
An alumnus of the Royal Naval Staff College, UK; College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai and the National Defence College, New Delhi, he has won awards at each of these world-renowned institutions including the prestigious ‘Herbert Lott Prize’ at Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, UK and holds a double MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies from the Universities of Mumbai and Madras. He has been awarded commendations by the Chief of Naval Staff in 1998, by the Government of Mauritius in 2003, the Vishist Seva Medal in 2010 and the Ati Vishist Seva Medal in 2016.

On promotion to Flag rank, he was appointed as Flag Officer Sea Training at Kochi wherein he was responsible for Operational Sea Training of ships of Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, and friendly foreign countries. The Flag Officer was the Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command – the Training Command which is spread over seven States and Union Territory of L&M. As the last Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area, he was responsible for the security of the two important maritime states and commanded the largest fighting formation of the Indian Navy in terms of the number of units.  He was also the first Flag Officer Commanding, the newly formed Gujarat Naval Area.  On promotion to Vice Admiral on 01 Dec 15, he was appointed as the Director General Project Seabird – the largest Defence Infrastructure Project in the country prior to taking over as the Chief of Staff at HQ Eastern Naval Command.

Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, the outgoing Chief of Staff, has proceeded on transfer as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Policy, Plans, and Force Development) at New Delhi.

PS: The above has been put forward as received in the Press Release