Lt Gen Bipin Rawat to be next Indian Army chief; BS Dhanoa to be IAF chief

The Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Bipin Rawat will be the new Chief of Army Staff, while Air Marshal BS Dhanoa, the next Chief of Air Staff. They will take charge in the afternoon of 31 December 2016.

Lt. Gen Rawat will replace General Dalbir Singh, who will retire from his office at the end of this month. Air Marshal Dhanoa, will replace Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha.

Lt. General Bipin Rawat

• Over last three decades of his service, Lt. General Rawat has tremendous hands-on experience of serving in combat areas, and at various functional levels in the Indian Army.

• He has handled various operational responsibilities in many areas, including along the LAC with China, the LoC with Pakistan and in the North-East.

• He is known for his balanced approach towards compassion, soldiering and connect with civil society.

• His experience as GOC-in-C Southern Army Command in Mechanised Warfare has been focused towards the western borders, in coordination with the other two services.

As per reports, Lt. Gen Rawat was found the best suited among the Lt. Generals, to deal with emerging challenges, including a reorganised and restructured military force in the north, continuing terrorism and proxy war from the west, and the situation in the North-East.

Air Marshal Dhanoa

• He was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Air Force in June 1978.

• He has served in various squadrons, and also in the Intelligence Directorate of Air Headquarters.

Earlier in the day, Anil Dhasmana was appointed as the chief of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Dhasmana will succeed Rajinder Khanna. In addition, Rajiv Jain was appointed as the chief of Intelligence Bureau (IB). Jain will succeed Dineshwar Sharma.