KOCHI: Rear Admiral Atul Kumar Jain assumed office as the Chief of Staff of Southern Naval Command, in Kochi on Sunday.
He took over the charge from Rear Admiral M S Pawar, who was serving as the Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Pawar will proceed to Mumbai to take up the post of Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat area (FOMAG).Commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1982, Rear Admiral Jain is a gunnery and missile specialist.
He is a graduate of the National Defence Academy (Pune); the Defence Services Staff College (Wellington); the College of Naval Warfare (Mumbai); and the National Defence College, Pretoria, South Africa.
Prior to his assignment in Kochi, he was commanding the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy, based at Visakhapatnam.During his career spanning more than 30 years, Rear Admiral Jain has held various operational and staff positions, both afloat and ashore.
His afloat tenures include commanding INS Nirghat (missile boat), INS Khukri (missile corvette), INS Rajput (destroyer) and the indigenous destroyer INS Mysore, besides being the commissioning executive officer of INS Brahmaputra.
He also served as fleet operations officer of the Eastern Fleet, Visakhapatnam. His tenures ashore include Director Naval Intelligence (Protocol), Director Foreign Liaison and Principal Director Staff Requirements at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy).
Rear Admiral Jain has served as the First Flag Officer Commanding, Karnataka Naval Area, Karwar. During this tenure, he was instrumental in setting up base support facilities for INS Vikramaditya at the Naval Base at Karwar.
He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2009.