KANNUR
Rear Admiral Ajay D. Theophilus has taken charge as the new Deputy Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy (INA) here on Saturday.
Rear Admiral A.N. Pramod handed over charge of the post at the INA after a successful tenure of over 14 months. He will now proceed to take over as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) in Delhi.
In spite of severe restrictions caused by COVID-19, Rear Admiral A.N. Pramod ensured that training remained unhindered and all training objectives of the academy were met. The academy also saw remarkable transformation in training facilities and infrastructure, an INA release said.
Rear AdmiralMr. Theophilus joined the Navy in 1987 and was commissioned into the executive branch on July 1, 1991. He was selected for the pilot’s course in June 1992, and upon completing the course, joined the fighter stream.
He has flown Kiran, HPT-32, MiG-21, Sea Harrier and MiG-29K aircraft and has done the Flying Instructors Course in 2001. He has served as an instructor on Sea Harriers and MiG-29K. He also has over 3,000 hours of flying with 1,000 hours on Sea Harriers and 700 hours on MiG-29K.
Rear Admiral Theophilus was selected to head the MiG-29K project and after completing the MiG-29K flying training in Russia, commissioned the squadron. He also led the team for the trials and testing of the MiG-29Ks, and later, led the squadron for integration with carrier INS Vikramaditya. He was also the Captain (Air), INS Vikramaditya, and later, commanded INS Talwar followed by INS Tarkash.
He is married to Savitha Theophilus and they have two children, Abhijith and Millen, the release said.
