A third-generation Army Officer, who has participated in many India-Pakistan battles and skirmishes, including the 1971/1999 Kargil Conflict with Pakistan. He has had a wide experience in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations.

A Post has been named in his name for bravery in the Naushera Sector of Kashmir in 1973. During “Op Parakram”, he operated with an independent Brigade in Kashmir and earned a Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) for bravery and effectively neutralising the enemy, Pakistan.

He has been a Commanding General in the Ladakh/Siachen area, being the highest battlefield in the world at a height above 14,000 feet.

He has been on operational duty in Ladakh from time to time and has commanded units and Formations along the entire Line of Actual Control against China in various capacities, starting from Arunachal Pradesh to Uttaranchal and the Ladakh/Kargil region.

During his tenure in the Siachin region, he won the National Greenery Award and during his tenure in the Uttaranchal Region, he organised planting lakhs of trees/plants in the form of inter battalion competitions, especially in the Harsil-Gangotri region.

He has authored more than six books on National Security issues, including the path-breaking book on ‘Space and Military Strategy’. He was the Director of Nuclear Strategy when India exploded the Nuclear Bomb at Pokhran-II in 1998.He has done his PhD in Nuclear Strategy.

Subsequently, he pioneered the first document on ‘Space Defence Vision’ when he was posted at the Integrated Defence Staff at New Delhi, Ministry of Defence.

He has also been a Fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses as well as held the Chair of Excellence(twice) at the United Service Institution of India, New Delhi.

He retired after more than 38 years of service and had earned more than 16 Medals for bravery and service to the nation. On retirement, he again held the Chair of Excellence at the United Service Institution of India (Govt of India Defence Think Tank) in the year 2012 and worked on the Transformation of the Armed Forces.

Since then, he has also been working on China’s threat emanating from Space and is part of the China Group think tank at the USI.

Now he engages himself with articles/lectures on National Security affairs and loves to spend time on Environmental issues.