NEW DELHI:
Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi
, on Tuesday took charge as the 26th
Navy chief
after R Hari Kumar retired from service. Dinesh K Tripathi, earlier served as the director-general of naval operations and the flag officer commanding-in-chief of the Western Naval Command.
An official announcement about his appoinment was made by the government on April 19.
Commissioned in July 1985, 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.
Tripathi takes 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, Tripathi has been in the thick of things as far as the high tempo of naval maritime operations is concerned.
