Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

G. Ashok Kumar

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime ...

, VSM is a retired Flag Officer in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

, who is currently appointed as the first National Maritime Security Coordinator. He works within the National Security Council Secretariat under the National Security Advisor

Ajit Doval Ajit Kumar Doval, Kirti Chakra, KC (born 20 January 1945) is an Indian bureaucrat and spymaster, who is currently serving as the National Security Advisor of India since 2014. A retired Indian Police Service officer of the Kerala cadre, he had p ...

. He served as the 35th Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. He assumed the position on 30 January 2019 from Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar who took over the

Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

. He retired on 31 July 2021 after 39 years of service. He is succeeded by

Satish Namdeo Ghormade.

Early life and education

He is an alumnus of

Sainik School, Amaravathinagar Sainik School Amaravathinagar is a Boys and Girls English medium, residential public school with a military bias up to +2 stage as per the CBSE board Syllabus. It is one of the 33 Government aided Sainik Schools in India, located in Udumalpet ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, where he was the house captain of Chera House. He then entered the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Career

Kumar was commissioned into the Executive Branch of the Navy on 1 July 1982. He is a navigation specialist. He completed his specialisation at

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

in 1989. Post this, he served as a Navigation Officer of the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s and , the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

and the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

. During his career, he has attended the

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – (Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, the Higher Command Course at the

Army War College, Mhow The Army War College, Mhow (A.W.C.) is a defence service training and research institution of the Indian Army located in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. It is a premier training institute of warfare and carries out research in tactics, logistics, contem ...

and the Expeditionary Operations course at

Quantico, Virginia Quantico (; formerly Potomac) is a town in southeastern Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 578 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., bound ...

. Kumar has commanded the Kora-class corvette INS Kulish (P63) and the

Destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

INS Ranvir INS ''Ranvir'' () is the fourth of the five s built for the Indian Navy. ''Ranvir'' was commissioned on 28 October 1986. Service history 2008 INS ''Ranvir'' along with were anchored just outside Sri Lankan territorial waters to provide ...

. He has also served as the

Executive Officer An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer ...

of INS Brahmaputra. Ashore, he has served as the Head of Training Team (Navy) at the

, the Defence Advisor at the High Commission of India in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and the Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of the

Flag rank

After Kumar was promoted to flag rank as a

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

, he has held the appointments of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), Chief of Staff of the

Southern Naval Command The Southern Naval Command is one of the three, command-level formations of the Indian Navy. Southern Naval Command is the largest naval command in India and it has its headquarters in Kochi, Kerala at INS Venduruthy. It is the Training Comman ...

and Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat (FOMAG). In the rank of

, he has served as the

Commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

of his alma mater - the

and as the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff. On 30 January 2019, Kumar was appointed the 35th Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. He took over from Vice Admiral

Ajit Kumar P Vice Admiral (India), Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar PVSM, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, AVSM, Vishisht Seva Medal, VSM, Aide-de-Camp, ADC is a retired Indian Navy Admiral. He served as Flag Officer Commanding, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) W ...

who took over as

Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

. Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar took over as the first National Maritime Security Coordinator of India on 16 Feb 2022.

Awards and decorations

Kumar has been awarded the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

, the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM, ) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime D ...

and the

Vishisht Seva Medal The Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM, ) is a decoration of the Indian Armed Forces. It is awarded to recognize "distinguished service of a high order" to all ranks of the Indian Armed Forces. From 1980, the Yudh Seva Medal was introduced to recognize ex ...

Personal life

He and his wife Ms. Geetha Ashok have two daughters - Shruti and Swati

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, G. Ashok Sainik School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Vice chiefs of Naval Staff (India) Deputy chiefs of Naval Staff (India) Indian Navy vice admirals National Defence Academy (India) alumni Commandants of the National Defence Academy Flag Officers Sea Training Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Vishisht Seva Medal Army War College, Mhow alumni Defence Services Staff College alumni Flag Officers Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area