Vice admiral Dinesh K Tripathi announced as new Navy chief

Vice admiral Dinesh K Tripathi announced as new Navy chief

NEW DELHI: Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, who earlier served as the director-general of naval operations and the flag officer commanding-in-chief of the Western Naval Command, will be the next Navy chief, the government announced late on Thursday night.

Vice Admiral Tripathi, who is currently the vice chief, will succeed Admiral R Hari Kumar, who retires on April 30. Commissioned in July 1985, Vice Admiral Tripathi is a communication and electronic warfare specialist who has commanded warships like corvette INS Kirch and frigate INS Trishul as well as held crucial operational and staff appointments during his career.

He will take over the reins of the Navy at a time when Indian warships are extensively deployed in the Gulf of Aden and adjoining areas, Arabian Sea, and off the east coast of Somalia, amid the continuing attacks by Houthi rebels and Somali pirates that have disrupted sea trade in the region.

The 140-warship Navy has responded to over 20 such incidents on the high seas, burnishing its credentials as the ‘first responder’ and ‘preferred security partner’ in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

China’s rapidly expanding footprint in the IOR and its collusiveness with Pakistan in the maritime domain as well, of course, also remains a matter of major concern for the Indian defence establishment.

China, which is building ships at a furious rate, already has the world’s largest Navy with 355 warships and submarines. It’s also hunting for more overseas bases after Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, Karachi and Gwadar in Pakistan and now possibly Ream in Cambodia to overcome its existing logistical challenge in the IOR and the larger Indo-Pacific.

As the Eastern Fleet commander, DGNO and Western Naval Command chief, Vice Tripathi has been in the thick of things as far as the high tempo of naval maritime operations is concerned. Importantly, earlier as the assistant chief of naval staff (policy and plans) and now the vice chief since January this year, he has also handled the entire modernization of the force.

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