Indian army’s vice chief Lt Gen Manoj Pande on April 18 was named as the next chief of the army staff – the first engineer to hold the top post.
Born on May 6, 1962, Lt General Pande was commissioned on December 24, 1982, in the corps of engineers (The Bombay Sappers), and during his long and distinguished service spanning over 39 years, has served in a variety of command, staff, and instructional appointments.
He has commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre as part of the strike corps, and an infantry brigade along the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir. His other important command appointments include a mountain division in the high-altitude area of western Ladakh and a corps deployed along the LAC and in the counter-insurgency operations area of the eastern command.
General MM Naravane #COAS & All Ranks of #IndianArmy congratulate Lieutenant General Manoj Pande #VCOAS on being appointed as the 29th Chief of the Army Staff #COAS of the #IndianArmy. Lt Gen Manoj Pande will assume the appointment of #COAS on 01 May 2022.#InStrideWithTheFuture pic.twitter.com/fiUpc29U2A
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) April 18, 2022
Manoj Pande had been commander-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command and as the eastern army commander at Kolkata before taking over as the vice chief of the army staff.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he has also studied at Staff College, Camberley (UK), Army War College, Mhow and National Defence College, New Delhi.
