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 regarde ...

Rajesh Dhankhar, NM is a serving Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the

Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet (FOCEF) is the title of the Indian Navy Officer who commands the Eastern Fleet, headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The FOCEF is a Two Star Officer holding the rank of Rear Admiral. The Current FOC ...

. He earlier served as the Commandant of the

Naval War College, Goa The Naval War College (NWC) is a premier training institution of the Indian Navy, located in Goa. The college aims at developing leadership qualities of the officers of the Indian Armed Forces at the strategic and operational level. It is one of th ...

, Flag Officer Sea Training and commanded the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

from 2019 to 2020.

Naval career

Dhankhar was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1990. He is a specialist in Navigation and Direction. He spent his early years onboard frontline warships as the navigating and operations officer. He has served as an instructor at the Project 15 training team in Mumbai. He attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He also served as an instructor at the Mids Wing of the Officer Cadet School in Singapore and at the Navigation and Direction School in Kochi. Dhankar commanded the Magar-class amphibious warfare vessel . In 2011, he attended the Higher Command Course at the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force Command and Staff College in Tokyo. He 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, o ...

and the principal warfare officer of the lead ship of her class of guided missile destroyers . He then commanded ''Delhi's''

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

. ''Mumbai'' was deployed as part of

Operation Raahat Operation Raahat ( hi, राहत, Rāhata, Relief) was an operation of the Indian Armed Forces to evacuate Indian citizens and foreign nationals from Yemen during the 2015 military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies in that country ...

to provide protection and support to Indian ships and aircraft involved in the evacuation of Indian citizens from Yemen during the

military intervention Interventionism refers to a political practice of intervention, particularly to the practice of governments to interfere in political affairs of other countries, staging military or trade interventions. Economic interventionism refers to a diffe ...

. For this operation, he was awarded the Nao Sena Medal for gallantry. As a staff officer, he served in the Directorate of Naval Plans at Naval headquarters. In September 2019, Dhankar took over as the 5th

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the

. He subsequently served as the Principal Director of Personnel at NHQ, in the rank of Commodore.

Flag rank

Dhankar was promoted to flag rank in February 2021 and was appointed Chief Staff Officer (Training) (CSO (Trg)) at the Southern Naval Command headquarters in Kochi. After a short stint, he took over as the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) also at Kochi. As FOST, his charter included the conduct of the operational sea training of all ships of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. On 18 May 2022, he was appointed Commandant of the

. He took over from Rear Admiral Sai Venkat Raman. After an eighteen month tenure, he was appointed

. He took over from Rear Admiral Gurcharan Singh on 10 November 2023.

Awards and decorations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhankhar, Rajesh Indian Navy rear admirals Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Defence Services Staff College alumni Flag Officers Sea Training Commandants of Naval War College, Goa Recipients of the Nau Sena Medal Flag Officers Commanding Eastern Fleet

Naval career

Flag rank

Awards and decorations

See also

References