Who is Lt General NS Raja Subramani, the next Chief of Defence Staff of India?

Orders announcing the appointment of Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan as the Navy Chief were issued on May 9, 2026. Swaminathan is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla; the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, United Kingdom; the College of Naval Warfare, Karanja; and the United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Commissioned into the Indian Navy on July 1, 1987, he is a specialist in communication and electronic warfare and has held several key appointments, including the Navy’s Chief of Personnel, Controller of Personnel Services, and Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command. His command experience includes missile vessels INS Vidyut and INS Vinash, the missile corvette INS Kulish, the guided missile destroyer INS Mysore, and the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.

Orders announcing the appointment of Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani as the next Chief of Defence Staff were issued on May 9, 2026. Subramani is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, and the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. He was commissioned into the Garhwal Rifles in December 1985 and has previously served as Central Army Commander in Lucknow. The Army notes his deep understanding of operational dynamics on the western and northern borders. He also studied at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Bracknell, UK, and the National Defence College, New Delhi, and holds an MA from King’s College London and an MPhil in Defence Studies from Madras University. His appointment comes at a time of ongoing Defence Ministry reforms, including theatreisation; last September the government extended the tenure of General Chauhan by eight months.

He is set to take over as the third Chief of Defence Staff on June 1, 2026.

The Union government greenlit the appointment of Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani as the next Chief of Defence Staff.

Following retirement, he has served as a military advisor at the National Security Council Secretariat since September 2025.

He served as Vice Chief of the Army Staff until July 2025.

On July 1, 2024, Lt General Subramani took over as the 47th Vice Chief of the Army Staff.

In March 2023, he took over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command.

After a year-long tenure as General Officer Commanding II Corps, Subramani moved to the Northern Command in Udhampur as Chief of Staff in May 2022.

He was commissioned into the 8th Battalion of the Garhwal Rifles in 1985.

NS Raja Subramani was born in Mumbai on July 21, 1968.