Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar PVSM, AVSM
Born	(1949-09-30) 30 September 1949 Bangalore, India
Allegiance	India
Service/branch	Indian Navy
Years of service	1970–2009
Rank	Vice Admiral
Commands held	Andaman and Nicobar Command Strategic Forces Command Western Fleet INS Viraat (R22) INS Ganga (F22) INS Himgiri (F34) INS Panaji (1960)
Battles/wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Operation Pawan
Awards	Param Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal

Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar, PVSM, AVSM (born 30 September 1949) is a retired Indian Navy Admiral who served as the CINCAN^[1] and as the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Indian Armed Forces. His prior commands included that as the Flag Officer Commanding, Western Fleet (FOCWF). He also served as the Commanding Officer of INS Viraat (R22), INS Ganga (F22), INS Himgiri (F34) and INS Panaji (1960).^[2]

Vice Admiral Shankar retired on 30 September 2009. Since then he has held the Admiral Katari Chair at the United Services Institution.

Early life

Shankar was born on 30 September 1949 in Bangalore, India. His father was an officer in the Royal Indian Air Force, and later in the Indian Air Force. He did his early education in India as well as the United Kingdom.

Naval career

Vijay Shankar graduated from the 34th course of the National Defence Academy, Pune. He was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 January 1970. A specialist in Navigation and Direction, he holds a Master of Science degree in Defence Studies. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, the Naval Higher Command Course from the College of Naval Warfare, Karanja and the Naval War College, United States.

His staff appointments included those as Deputy Director of Combat Policy and Tactics, Naval Headquarters; Chief Instructor at the Navigation and Direction School, Kochi, as Director of the School of Maritime Warfare and Tactics, Kochi, as Senior Instructor at the Defence Services Staff College and Director of Staff Requirements at Naval Headquarters.

Awards and decorations

During his career, Shankar has been awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2002 and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2008.

Later career

Shankar lives in the Nilgiris area. He has lectured at Defence Services Staff College, Higher Command College and the National Maritime Foundation. He holds the Admiral Katari Chair at the United Service Institution, is a distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi and is a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. He is a recognized expert on nuclear security issues in the Indian Subcontinent. Internationally, his participation in the Track II Ottawa Dialogue, the Bellagio Carnegie Endowment discussions, the Indo-Sino-Pak trilateral dialogue, Chaophraya Dialogue and the papers he has presented there seek to provide a new paradigm for nuclear security on the sub-continent. He has delivered lectures and participated in discussions at academic and research institutions in the United States, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Security Studies Program, The University of Tennessee, The Howard Baker Center at Knoxville, The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore (Open Campus), The Atlantic Council and the Carnegie Endowment for Peace.^[2]

References