Rear Admiral G. Ashok Kumar has assumed charge as the new Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) at the city-based Southern Naval Command.
He was earlier functioning as Flag Officer Maharashtra and Gujarat Area (FOMAG). As FOST, an organisation spread across Kochi, Mumbai and Vizag, he would be responsible for training warships to attain the highest standards of wartime operational readiness.
A native of Pothennur, near Ponnani in Malappuram district, he was commissioned into the navy in July 1982. He specialised in navigation and direction and served as navigating officer of warships Beas, Nilgiri, Ranvir and Vikrant. He commanded INS Kulish and INS Ranvir and was executive officer of INS Brahmaputra.
On shore, he functioned as staff officer (ops/ND) at the Indian Naval Workup team; headed the naval training team at DSSC, Wellington; was Defence Advisor at the High Commission of India in Singapore and was Chief Staff Officer (Ops) at the Western Naval Command.
At the Southern Naval Command, he held the posts of FOST and also served as Chief of Staff.
The Rear Admiral — an alumnus of Sainik School, Amaravathi Nagar and the National Defence Academy — is a postgraduate from the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.
He has done the Army Higher Command Course at Mhow and the Expeditionary Operations Course at Virginia in the U.S.
