New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, a former commander of guided missile destroyer INS Mumbai, Monday took over as the chief of staff of Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command.
He is the first three-star navy officer to hold the post after the government upgraded it to a vice admiral's rank.
Lanba replaces Rear Admiral Karambir Singh, who has been moved to the tri-services Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair as its chief of staff, a defence ministry press release said.
Commissioned on Jan 1, 1978, Lanba is a navigation and direction specialist and is an alumnus of the Khadakvasla-based National Defence Academy and Wellington-based Defence Services Staff College.
He has also studied at the Secunderabad-based College of Defence Management and the London-based Royal College of Defence Studies.
Lanba, during his career, has commanded four ships including minesweeper INS Kakinada, frigate INS Himgiri, and destroyers INS Ranvijay and INS Mumbai.
The vice admiral has held various important staff appointments, including that of the directing staff at the College of Defence Management, fleet operations officer of the Western Fleet, and staff officer (navigation and direction) of Local Workup Team (West).
Prior to taking over as the chief of staff at Eastern Naval Command, the flag officer was Rear Admiral Special Patrol Vessels and Alternate Operating Bases, chief of staff of Kochi-headquartered Southern Naval Command, Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) and Flag Officer Commanding of Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area.
The government has also appointed Lt. Gen. S. Murali Mohan as the director general of dental services at the Army Headquarters.
Mohan is an alumnus of dental wing of Madras Medical College and graduated in 1975. He was commissioned in the Army Dental Corps on Jan 7, 1977. He obtained his masters in dental surgery in the prosthodontics specialty from the Pune-based Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in 1986.
During his career spanning 34 years, Mohan has commanded some of the prestigious dental centres of the army including a corps dental unit in counter-insurgency operations. During deputation to the air force for four years, Mohan commanded the Air Force Institute of Dental Sciences at Bangalore.
He is a recognised post-graduate teacher and has been a member of the faculty at AFMC, apart from serving as an executive committee member of Indian Prosthodontic Society for three