Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, is presently the Chief of Staff of Indian Navy's Western Naval Command. His previous posting was as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff, Foreign Cooperation, Strategic Threats and Transformation[1][2] He is due to take over as the Commandant of the Naval Academy at Ezhimala in October 2011.
He is an alumnus of India’s premier National Defence Academy at Khadavasala, the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington, the Naval War College at Karanja in Mumbai and the prestigious National Defence College, India at New Delhi. Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan has over 35 years of rich and varied experience in the Indian Navy. In his sea-going career, he has been singularly privileged to have held command of the Indian Navy’s frontline surface-combatants on four occasions. He has been instrumental in the conceptualisation and proving of tactics-of-war for the Indian Navy and has been the Principal Director in the Directorate of Naval Operations at Naval Headquarters, New Delhi. Upon his promotion as a Rear Admiral in 2005, he was tasked with setting-up a new and vibrant organisational structure at New Delhi that has given a great fillip to both Naval Foreign Cooperation as well as Intelligence. He was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral in 2009 and took over as the Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command in August 2009. He is a recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.