Lt Gen Manoj Chandrashekhar Pande, (PVSM, AVSM, VSM) will take over as the 29th Chief of Army staff (COAS) on April 30, the day the present Chief Gen MM Naravane superannates. He becomes the first Combat Engineer officer to hold command of the army and he is the senior most in the service and he has been named by the government as the next chief based on that.

On assuming the appointment of the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Gen Pande, will be presented with a Guard of Honour on Sunday (May 1, 2022). For the first time in the history of the Indian Army that an officer from the Corps of Engineers will be taking over as the chief. According to information in the public domain, the Corps of Engineer was raised by the British in 1777.

Some reports also indicate that the only other officer from the Corps who almost became a chief of the Indian Army was Lt Gen PS Bhagat. He was at that time recommended by the then Army Chief General SHFJ Manekshaw, who got an extension for the 1971 war victory against Pakistan in 1971. And his successor Gen GG Bewoor too was given a year’s extension while he was the Chief.

More about Gen Pande

Till Friday evening he was the vice chief of the army, prior to this he was in charge of the Eastern Command. He has also commanded the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC)—a special tri-service command that safeguards India’s strategic interests in Southeast Asia. 

He has commanded 117 Engineer Regiment along the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir. He opted to become part of the General Cadre and has commanded a brigade, a mountain division and a corps in the North East.

Financial Express Online has reported earlier that the Gen Pande has held several prestigious staff and command assignments in conventional as well as counter-insurgency operations in different terrains.

During Operation Parakram, he commanded an engineer regiment along the Line of Control during Operation Parakram – this was launched after the Parliament attack in December 2001. And an engineer brigade in the western sector; an infantry brigade along LoC, 8 Mountain Division in the Kargil area; and also the Tezpur-headquartered 4 Corps.

How long will Gen Pande’s tenure be?

He was born on May 6, 1962 and in December 1982 was commissioned into the Bombay Sappers, which is a regiment of the Corps of Engineers.

On May 31, 2024, he will retire, as the chiefs of the three services retire at the age of 62.

Who is a Sapper Officer?

“For the uninitiated, it is important to understand what a Sapper Officer is, and the responsibility on his shoulders is far beyond those who are from other Arms, Combat Support Arms and Services. While each has its own important role to play in our environment of No War No Peace, this is to qualify why the Gen Officer is well qualified to lead,” Lt Col Manoj K Channan, Indian Army veteran, explains to Financial Express Online.

What do Engineers do as their Primary and Secondary task?

According to Lt Col Manoj K Channan, “In war, Combat Engineers provide mobility to their own forces by constructing bridges, tracks and helipads; on the other hand, the Corps denies the same to the enemy by creating obstacles such as laying mine-fields and demolition of bridges.

In a defensive deployment having carried out their primary tasks, they dig up defences and fight as the Infantry.

The officers are trained at College of Military Engineering Pune and undergo a degree course and some pursue their Masters, in pursuit of excellence.”

“The Gen Officer has been instrumental in the high degree of preparedness and development of infrastructure in the North East which enables quick mobility of troops as well as ability to side step troops when required as per the threat perception. He is well seized of embracing modern technologies and its employment to mitigate the challenges, while improving operational efficiency of the Indian Army,” says Lt Col Channan.

What are the challenges for the new chief?

He takes over at a time when the Russia-Ukraine war continues and it is having an impact on geopolitics. There are emerging threats in the neighbourhood, and the government’s focus is on indigenisation and self reliance. The focus is also on adopting emerging technologies for future warfare and to utilise the resources of all the three services for various operations and wars in the future.

Standoff between the Indian Army and Chinese PLA troops along Line of Actual Control

Despite 15 rounds of talks both at highest military and diplomatic levels, troops of both sides continue to be in a standoff position. As reported earlier there have been three rounds of disengagement at friction points on the LAC – Galwan, Pangong Tso, and Gogra. Both sides have 50,000 to 60,000 troops each and have also deployed advanced weaponry in the Ladakh theatre. Outstanding problems remain at a few friction points which are yet to be resolved.

Theaterisation of the Armed Forces

The late CDS Gen Bipin Rawat was in the midst of finalising the theaterisation of the Indian Armed forces. A roadmap is being created which will help the armed forces to best utilise the resources available for future wars and military operations.

What is in the works is a model to enhance tri-service synergy, which seeks to set up four integrated commands – two land-centric theatres, an air defence command, and a maritime theatre command.

All the services were expected to submit comprehensive reports on theaterisation soon.

Indigenisation of military hardware:

The government is very focussed in making the Indian Armed forces self-reliant and as the war between Ukraine and Russia rages, it has become more important that India focuses on building military hardware in the country. And this is the reason it has imposed a phased ban on the import of 310 weapons and platforms. The three lists realised by the government includes several items needed by the Indian army.

Ensuring Indian Army is battle-ready: The ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis has made the military planners in New Delhi to sit and assess the impact it would have on the Indian armed forces preparedness, as almost two-thirds of the military equipment is from Russia/Soviet Origin. And to under the impact of the sanctions imposed by the West and its allies.  Once the war stops, will it be business as usual or will India start looking towards other countries to meet some of its urgent requirements.

At a recent webinar organised by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies on the contours of future wars, the Chief designate had stated that legacy challenges of unsettled and disputed borders have become more complex in the face of changing character of future wars. In that webinar he had talked about a need to be proactive in building a “credible deterrence”, which will defeat the adversary’s efforts to achieve its strategic goals and deter military escalation.

He had also emphasised on building an active and balanced force posture to prevent escalation towards an armed conflict.

According to him, disruptive technologies and hostile actions exploit the ambiguous grey zone of traditional war and peace. “And these have now transformed the battle-space.”