India Appoints New CDS, CNS

New Chief of Defence Staff designate, Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani, and new Chief of Naval Staff designate, Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan | Photo: Ministry of Defence

The Government of India has appointed Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM as the next Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), according to separate announcements issued by the Ministry of Defence.

Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani will assume charge as the Chief of Defence Staff and Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Military Affairs after the completion of the tenure of General Anil Chauhan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM on May 30, 2026.

Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan will take over as Chief of the Naval Staff following the retirement of Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, PVSM, AVSM, NM on May 31, 2026.

Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani is currently serving as Military Adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat, a position he has held since September 1, 2025. Before that, he served as Vice Chief of the Army Staff from July 2024 to July 2025 and earlier headed the Army’s Central Command.

Commissioned into the 8th Battalion of the Garhwal Rifles on December 14, 1985, he is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy. He has also attended the Joint Services Command Staff College in the United Kingdom and the National Defence College in New Delhi. His academic qualifications include a Master of Arts degree from King’s College London and an MPhil in Defence Studies from Madras University.

During his military career, Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani commanded 16 Garhwal Rifles in Assam during Operation Rhino, 168 Infantry Brigade in Jammu and Kashmir, 17 Mountain Division in the Central Sector and 2 Corps on the Western Front. His staff assignments included positions in Military Intelligence, Eastern Command, Northern Command and the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He also served as Defence Attaché in Kazakhstan.

The Ministry of Defence stated that he has “served across a wide spectrum of conflict and terrain profiles and tenanted a host of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.”

Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan currently serves as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, a post he assumed on July 31, 2025. Commissioned into the Indian Navy on July 1, 1987, he specialises in Communication and Electronic Warfare.

His command appointments have included INS Vidyut, INS Vinash, INS Kulish, INS Mysore and the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. He also served as Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command, Controller of Personnel Services, Chief of Personnel and Vice Chief of the Naval Staff.

Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan studied at the National Defence Academy, Joint Services Command and Staff College in the United Kingdom, College of Naval Warfare and the United States Naval War College. His academic qualifications include degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, King’s College London and Mumbai University, where he completed a PhD in International Studies.