Lt Gen Raja Subramani appointed new CDS; Vice Admiral Swaminathan to take over as Navy chief

Vice Admiral Swaminathan, an alumnus of Bishop Cotton's Boys' School, Bengaluru and Sainik School, Bijapur was commissioned on July 1, 1987.

New Delhi: Former Vice Chief of the Indian Army Lt Gen N S Raja Subramani on Saturday was appointed as the country’s third Chief of Defence Staff to carry forward the reforms in higher defence including the creation of long awaited theatre commands.

The Union government also appointed Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan – a Bengalurean – as the next Chief of the Naval Staff who will take over from Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi on his retirement on May 31. A day earlier, Lt Gen Raja Subramani will pick up the baton from the incumbent Gen Anil Chauhan after his tenure ends on May 30.

Vice Admiral Swaminathan, an alumni of Bishop Cottons Boy's School, Bengaluru and Sainik School, Bijapur was commissioned on July 1, 1987.

Currently, he is the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, the sword arm of the Indian Navy. Earlier he served as the Vice Chief of the Navy and was the second skipper of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

A specialist in communication and electronic warfare, Vice Admiral Swaminathan is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla; the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, UK; the College of Naval Warfare, Karanja; and the United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode lsland.

During his naval career, the officer also commanded missile vessels INS Vidyut and Vinash; missile corvette INS Kulish and the guided missile destroyer INS Mysore.

Lt Gen Raja Subramani, currently the Military Adviser, National Security Council Secretariat, was the Vice Chief of Army Staff from July 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025 – a period that includes Operation Sindoor - and was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command from March 2023 till June 2024. He joined the NSCS in September 2025.

During his four decade long career in the army, Lt Gen Raja Subramani, an infantry officer, served across a wide spectrum of conflict and terrain profiles and tenanted a host of command, staff and instructional appointments, gathering expertise on Pakistan and China fronts.

He commanded 16 Garhwal Rifles in counter-insurgency missions in Assam as part of Operation Rhino, 168 Infantry Brigade in Jammu & Kashmir and 17 Mountain Division in the central sector during a challenging operational environment. He also has the distinction of having commanded 2 Corps, the premier strike corps of the Indian Army on the Western Front.

Commissioned into the 8th Battalion of the Garhwal Rifles on December 14, 1985, he is an alumnus of Joint Services Command Staff College, Bracknell (UK), and National Defence College, New Delhi.

In addition, he holds an MA degree from King’s College London and an M.Phil in Defence Studies from Madras University, which gave him the reputation of a scholar-soldier.

With Gen Chauhan completing the first set of works on the formation of theatre commands, Lt Gen Raja Subramani, who will also be the Secretary, Department of Military Affairs will have to take plan forward to establish the three theatre commands for northern, western and marine fronts, abolishing the 17 existing single service commands shared between the army, air force and navy.