Lt Gen Amit Sharma appointed as Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Forces Command

Lt Gen Amit Sharma was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Forces Command on 13 June 2014. He replaced Vice Admiral SPS Cheema.

About Amit Sharma
• Sharma was the Chief of Staff of the Japiur-based South Western Command of the Army and had headed the force's elite 21 Strike Corps.
• He also served as Director Long Term Force Structuring, Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff.
• He was the Defence Attache at Embassy of India in Paris where he was responsible for Army and Naval cooperation with France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
• He has commanded an Armoured Regiment, an Independent Armoured Brigade in the Western Deserts.
About the Strategic Forces Command
• Strategic Forces Command (SFC) was created on 4 January 2003 by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.
• Air Marshal Tej Mohan Asthana became the first commander-in-chief of the SFC.
• It is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.
• It is chaired in rotation by an officer from the Army, Navy and IAF.
• The responsibility of the Strategic Forces Command is to operationalise the directives of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).
• The Command has the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear weapons and warheads after acquiring explicit approval from the NCA.