Vice Admiral R. B. Pandit,

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 Di ...

is a serving Flag Officer in the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

. He is currently the Commander-in-Chief of the

Strategic Forces Command The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), sometimes called Strategic Nuclear Command, forms part of India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). It is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear wea ...

. He assumed the position from Air Marshal Rajesh Kumar. He earlier served as the Chief of Staff of 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 ...

in Mumbai.

Career

Pandit graduated from the

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

and was commissioned into the Executive Branch of the Navy in July 1984. He is an

Anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typi ...

specialist. 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 Military Service, Indian Nav ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) 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 second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

, College of Naval Warfare,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

and the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Pandit has commanded the

Veer-class corvette The ''Veer''-class corvettes of the Indian Navy are a customised Indian variant of the Soviet .INS Nirghat, the Nilgiri-class frigate

INS Vindhyagiri INS ''Vindhyagiri'' was a of the Indian Navy. ''Vindhyagiri'' was commissioned on 8 July 1981. After nearly thirty years of service, she sank a few hours after colliding with a merchant vessel on 30 January 2011. Although she was subsequent ...

and the only

Amphibious transport dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently ope ...

of the Indian Navy - the

INS Jalashwa INS ''Jalashwa'' (Sanskrit/Hindi: Hippopotamus, जलाश्व) is an amphibious transport dock currently in service with the Indian Navy. Formerly , she, along with six Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopters were procured from the United States ...

. He has also commanded the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron.

Flag rank

After promotion to the flag rank of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

, Pandit commanded the

Western Fleet The Red Sea Fleet Command or officially Western Fleet (WF), also called ''" West Coast Fleet ",'' is a regional naval fleet and one of the two main formations of the Saudi Arabian Navy, with headquarters at Royal Naval Base at Jeddah, Western P ...

. Ashore, he has served as the

Naval Advisor A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

at the

High Commission of India, Islamabad High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence) at the Naval Headquarters and the Chief of Staff,

Southern Naval Command The Southern Naval Command is one of the three command-level formations of the Indian Navy. It has its headquarters in Kochi, Kerala at INS Venduruthy. It is the Training Command of the Indian Navy. The Command is commanded by a Three Star Fla ...

. In the rank of Vice Admiral, he has served as the Commandant of the

Indian Naval Academy The Indian Naval Academy (INA or INA Ezhimala) is the defence service training establishment for officer cadre of the Indian Naval Service and the Indian Coast Guard, located in Ezhimala, Kannur district, Kerala. Situated between Ezhimala ...

Ezhimala Ezhimala, a hill reaching a height of , is located near Payyanur, in Kannur district of Kerala, south India. It is a part of a conspicuous and isolated cluster of hills, forming a promontory, north of Kannur (Cannanore). The Indian Naval Ac ...

before taking over as the Chief of Staff,

. On 26 January 2018, he was awarded 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 Di ...

for distinguished service of a high order.

Awards and decorations

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pandit, R. B. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Indian Navy admirals Flag Officers Commanding Western Fleet National Defence Academy (India) alumni Commandants of the Indian Naval Academy Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Indian naval attachés