Speaker’s Profile

Admiral Arun Prakash retired as India’s 20th Naval Chief and Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee in end-2006. Commissioned into the Executive Branch in 1966, he specialized in aviation and has flown fighters from aircraft-carriers and patrol-aircraft and helicopters from ashore. During a career spanning over 40 years, he commanded four warships including the aircraft-carrier Viraat, two naval air squadrons and a naval air station. In staff appointments he served as head of the Aviation and Personnel branches of the navy, and as Vice Chief of Naval Staff.

In flag rank he commanded the Eastern Fleet and the National Defence Academy. He was the first C-in-C of the Andaman & Nicobar Joint Command and subsequently headed the Western Naval Command. During his tenure as Chief, the Indian Navy saw many initiatives being launched in the fields of doctrine, strategy, transformation and foreign maritime cooperation. The 2004 tsunami saw the IN earn plaudits for mounting an effective disaster relief operation, on India’s eastern seaboard and simultaneously rendering assistance to neighbouring Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia.

A graduate of the Indian Air Force Test Pilots School, the Defence Services Staff College and the US Naval War College, he was awarded the Vir Chakra during the 1971 war, while flying with an IAF fighter-bomber squadron in Punjab.

Post-retirement, he writes and speaks on strategic and defence related topics. He has published a compendium of speeches and writings titled: From the Crow’s Nest. He has served as chairman of the National Maritime Foundation and was a two-term member of India’s National Security Advisory Board.

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