Lieutenant General Arvinder Singh Lamba, a senior Artillery officer with commando training, took over as the Army's vice chief. He replaces Lieutenant General P C Bharadwaj, who retired on November 30.
An Alumnus of the Khadakvasla-based National Defence Academy, Lamba was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in June 1997 and now he is also the Senior Colonel of the Regiment.
An Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) awardee, his operational experience includes participation in the 1971 Indo-Pak War in the eastern as well as the western theatres and vast exposure to counter-insurgency operations over several years both within and outside the country.
His command assignments encompass that of a Rocket Regiment, Mountain Brigade in counter-insurgency and later on in Operation Parakram in 2001-02, Infantry Division on the western sector, and an elite Strike Corps in the southern theatre.
The officer was Commander-in-Chief of the Army's Training Command at Shimla prior to taking over as the Army vice chief. This tenure at the training command drew the General's focus on the imperative transformation in training to meet the postulations of emerging security and technological challenges.
His priorities were articulation of the Army Doctrine, Information Warfare, Review of Training, Simulation, Wargaming, human resource and leadership development and inter-service jointmanship.
Lamba's staff experience includes Brigade Major with Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), Colonel Administration in counter-insurgency and Brigadier General Staff of a Corps in the eastern theatre.
Appointments at the Army Headquarters include Additional Director General Operational Logistics Directorate, Deputy Director General Strategic Planning Group in Perspective Planning Directorate, Director Operational Logistics and Colonel General Staff Army Standing Establishment Committee.
He has been a Directing Staff at Defence Services Staff College as also at the Indian Military Academy. His professional courses include Defence Services Staff College at Wellington, Higher Command Course at Army War College in Mhow and the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies in United Kingdom.
