Admiral Puneet Bahl new Goa Navy Chief

By on November 09, 2015
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Rear Admiral Puneet Kumar Bahl assumed charge as the Flag Officer Naval Aviation and Flag Officer Goa Area. Bahl, who was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1984 and is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, is replacing Rear Admiral Ravneet Singh, who will be taking over as Fleet Commander of the Western Fleet shortly.

Admiral Bahl has undertaken the staff course at Defence Service Staff College (DSSC) Wellington and the Naval Higher Command Course at the College of Naval Warfare in Mumbai. An experienced MR pilot, he has flown six different types of aircraft. His operational experience includes active participation in flying operations in Operation Tasha and Operation Vijay. He is also a qualified ships diver.

The Admiral has also held a wide array of challenging operational, staff and training assignments. Before his elevation to Flag rank, he was the Commanding Officer of INS Rajali, one of the premier strategic airbases of the country, from October 2011 to January 2015. During this assignment, Admiral Bahl successfully oversaw the smooth induction and operationalisation of the state-of-the-art Boeing P8I Long Range Maritime
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft.

He has also commanded the guided missile frigate INS Betwa and off-shore patrol vessel INS Sujata. The Admiral was also based at Tokyo in the embassy as the Defence Attaché for Japan with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Korea, where he was instrumental in coordinating and facilitating a landmark joint declaration on security cooperation between India and Japan. He also ensured enhanced training exchanges between the armed forces of India with Japan and the Republic of Korea.

His training assignments include tenures as Directing Staff at DSSC Wellington and Captain of Aviation Training at the headquarters of naval aviation in Goa. His staff assignments include tenure as JDNAS (Aviation Plans), at New Delhi, where he successfully steered cases for aircraft inductions and drafted the naval aviation component of the Naval Maritime Capabilities Perspective Plan. He also drafted the Naval Aviation Infrastructure Perspective Plan.

He has had tenures at INS Garuda, INS Rajali, AFS Yelhanka and CGAS 700, while on flying duties. Upon his elevation to the Flag Rank in January this year, he took over as Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff at New Delhi. The Flag Officer was awarded a Vishisht Seva Medal in 2015, a commendation by the Chief of Naval Staff in 2005 and the Lentaigne Medal at DSSC Wellington in 1988.

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