Vice Admiral RB Pandit becomes Commandant Indian Naval Academy

Vice Admiral RB Pandit took over as the Commandant, Indian Naval Academy (INA) on 19 February 2018. He is a specialist in anti submarine warfare and has commanded INS Nirghat, INS Vindhyagiri, INS Jalashwa and the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron at Mumbai and has been the Naval Adviser at the High Commission of India at Islamabad, Pakistan. He has also held important staff assignments such as ACNS (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence) at IHQ MoD (Navy) and Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command. He was Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet at Mumbai, prior to being appointed as the Commandant of Indian Naval Academy.

Air Marshal RKS Shera takes over as Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance

Air Marshal RKS Shera took over as Air Officerin-Charge Maintenance, IAF. A post graduate from IIT Kanpur in Electrical Engineering, he was part of the induction team in Russia for the MiG-29 in 1986. Air Marshal RKS Shera was Senior Maintenance Staff Officer at HQ Maintenance Command before taking over as Air Officer-in-charge Maintenance at Air HQ. During his career of 37 years, the officer has held several important command and staff assignments that include Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Engg A), SMSO HQ WAC, Station Commander TETTRA School, Director MiG-29 Weapon Cell at Air HQ, Chief of Aircraft Production at Base Repair Depot, Inspector in Directorate of Air Staff Inspection (DASI), Chief Engineering Officer of a fighter base and Instructor at the Technical Training School, Botswana (Africa).

Rear Admiral Atul Anand is ACNS (FCI)

Rear Admiral Atul Anand has been appointed as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff – Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence. The Admiral is a specialist in Navigation and Direction, has also attended the Advance Security Cooperation Course at the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii, USA. He has held several command appointments including command of Torpedo Recovery Vessel IN TRV A72, Missile Boat INS Chatak, Corvette INS Khukri and the Destroyer INS Mumbai. He has also served as Navigating Officer of INS Sharda, Ranvijay and Jyoti. In addition, he was Direction Officer of INAS 300 with Sea Harriers and Executive Officer of the Destroyer INS Delhi. His important Staff appointments include Joint Director Staff Requirements, Directing Staff at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Director Naval Operations, Director Naval Intelligence (Ops), Principal Director Naval Operations and the Principal Director Strategy, Concepts and Transformation.

Chandrayaan-II Rover to spend 14 days on the moon

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s ambitious next moon mission, Chandrayaan-II will include the country’s first lunar landing. ISRO has recently given details on the Chandrayaan-II launch, which is to take place in the month of April 2018, with the chairman Dr K Sivan stating that they have identified two potentials locations for the landing. After launch from Sriharikota, the orbiter will take over a month to reach the moon’s orbit. “The Rover has been designed to spend a lunar day or 14 Earth days on the moon’s surface and walk up to 150-200 km. It will do several experiments and on-site chemical analysis of the surface,” Dr Sivan said.