New Delhi: Lt General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who is currently the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, will succeed Army Chief General Bipin Rawat when he retires at the end of this month after a three-year stint.

Lt General Naravane who will be the 27th Army Chief took charge as Vice Chief of the Army Staff in September is the senior most General after the current Army Chief. Earlier, he was heading the Eastern Command of the Indian Army stationed to guard the country’s nearly 4,000-km border with China.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, he was commissioned into the 7th Battalion, The Sikh Light Infantry Regiment in June 1980.

In his four-decade long career, Lt General Naravane has served both in the North East and in Jammu and Kashmir. He was also a part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka during Operation PAWAN. He has also served as the Indian Embassy in Myanmar or three years.

He has served in Counter-Insurgency Operations in Kashmir and Northeast India. He has commanded a Rashtriya Rifles battalion in Jammu and Kashmir, an Infantry brigade, Assam Rifles in Northeast India as Inspector General (North), Kharga Strike Corps the Ambala based Strike Corps, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Delhi Area and 20th General Officer Commander-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Army Training Command (December one, 2017 to September 30, 2018).

In addition, he was an instructor at the Army War College, Mhow and served as the Indian Defence Attache to Myanmar. He was also the commander of the 2017 Republic Day Parade.

He has been awarded the ‘Sena Medal’ (Distinguished) for command of his Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir, the ‘Vishisht Seva Medal’ for his services as the Inspector General Assam Rifles (North) in Nagaland and the ‘Ati Vishisht Seva Medal’ for command of a prestigious Strike Corps. He has also been honoured with ‘Param Vishisht Seva Medal’ for his services as the General Officer Commanding of the Army Training Command.