Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat dies in chopper crash

Gen Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and who had a vast experience across a wide spectrum of conflict and terrain profiles, was among the 13 people killed on December 8 when the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed in a hilly area near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu.

Gen Rawat, 63, was on a visit to the Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington (Nilgiri Hills) to address the faculty and student officers.

The Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying Gen Rawat crashed killing 13 of the 14 people on board including his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 other armed forces personnel.

The Indian Air Force said a Court of Inquiry has been ordered into the accident.

Mi-17V5 is an advanced military transport chopper that has been with the IAF since 2012. Manufactured by Russian Helicopters’ subsidiary Kazan, it has an onboard weather radar and is equipped with the latest generation of night vision devices.

An illustrious career

In his career spanning over four decades, Gen Rawat had an illustrious military profile with vast operational and staff exposure.

Gen Rawat was commissioned in the Fifth Battalion of the 11th Gorkha Rifles in December 1978 from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, where he was awarded the ‘Sword of Honour’.

He had vast experience in high-altitude warfare and counter-insurgency operations. He commanded an Infantry battalion, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the Eastern Sector, a Rashtriya Rifles Sector and an Infantry Division in the Kashmir valley, a Corps in the Eastern theatre and the Southern Command. He tenanted instructional appointments at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and Army War College, Mhow.

Before taking over as the Army chief in 2016, Gen Rawat had held important staff appointments at Directorate General of Military Operations and Military Secretary’s Branch at Army HQ. He had also been Major General General Staff (MGGS) at HQ, Eastern Command. The General Officer commanded a Multinational Brigade in a Chapter VII mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While serving with the UN, he was twice awarded the Force Commander’s Commendation.

Gen Rawat took over as the 27th Army chief on December 31, 2016. 

During his three-year tenure as the Army chief, Gen Rawat had not only introduced a paradigm concept of hybrid warfare, but had also done a restructuring of the Indian Army to make it more lethal. He had ordered four studies on force restructuring and transformation of the Indian Army, including restructuring of Army headquarters, force restructuring, cadre review of officers and review of terms and conditions of junior commissioned officers and other ranks.

On December 30, 2019, he was appointed as India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) with a mandate to bring in convergence in the functioning of the Army, Navy and the Air Force and bolster the country’s military prowess.

Academically inclined, he authored numerous articles on national security and leadership, which were published in various journals and publications. He was awarded an MPhil in Defence Studies from Madras University. He had a diploma in management and another diploma in computer studies. He also completed his research on military media strategic studies and was awarded a PhD from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, in 2011.

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