Chief of defence staff Rawat killed in chopper crash

The Rawats are survived by daughters Kritika and Tarini.

The one survivor of the crash, Group Captain Varun Singh, is below medical therapy on the Army Hospital in Wellington, the IAF confirmed.

Rawat, 63, the nation’s senior-most army officer and longest-serving four-star basic, survived a chopper crash in February 2015 within the Northeast.

“With deep remorse, it has now been ascertained that Gen Bipin Rawat, Mrs Madhulika Rawat and 11 different individuals on board have died within the unlucky accident,” the IAF stated in a press release put out on Twitter six hours after the crash.

The lifeless embrace Rawat’s defence assistant Brig. L.S. Lidder and the CDS’ workers officer Lt. Col. Harjinder Singh, it’s learnt. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari rushed to the crash website to take inventory of the scenario.

Fourteen individuals, together with the chopper’s crew, have been on board the Russian-origin Mi-17V5, a contemporary and dependable army helicopter.

“Gen Bipin Rawat was an excellent soldier. A real patriot, he enormously contributed to modernizing our armed forces and safety equipment. His insights and views on strategic issues have been distinctive. His passing away has saddened me deeply,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter.

The PM added that as India’s first CDS, Rawat labored on various points regarding the armed forces, together with increased defence reforms and introduced with him a wealthy expertise of serving within the military. “India will always remember his distinctive service.”

Rawat was on his technique to the Defence Providers Workers School (DSSC) at Wellington to deal with the school and pupil officers there, officers stated. Singh, the only survivor of the crash and a embellished fighter pilot, is directing workers at DSSC.

An inquiry has been ordered into the crash, the Air Pressure stated. The chopper was on its method from the Sulur Air Pressure station to DSSC when it went down close to Coonoor. The CDS, his spouse and 7 others had flown to Sulur from New Delhi in an Embraer jet of the IAF’s VVIP communication squadron.

The CDS’ surprising demise can have implications for ongoing army reforms, together with theaterization, and the federal government must transfer swiftly to announce a succession plan.

Rawat was spearheading the army’s theaterization drive to reinforce the effectiveness of the armed forces and reshape the conduct of future operations. Rawat took over as CDS on 31 December 2019, after serving as the military chief for a full three-year time period. He held the four-star rank for nearly 5 years.

“Basic Rawat epitomized army professionalism like nobody else. He was pushed by his personal convictions. He took robust choices even when they weren’t well-liked. The group’s curiosity was topmost for him, and he didn’t actually care about his personal recognition,” stated Lt Gen B.S. Sandhu (retd), who knew Rawat for greater than 45 years and was his course mate on the Nationwide Defence Academy.

Sandhu’s spouse Kuka and Madhulika attended Daulat Ram School in Delhi collectively.

As CDS, Rawat wore a number of hats— he was the everlasting chairman of the chiefs of workers committee (COSC), headed the division of army affairs (DMA), and was the single-point army adviser to the defence minister.

The Nationwide Democratic Alliance authorities outdated two high generals—lieutenant generals Praveen Bakshi and P.M. Hariz—to nominate Rawat military chief in 2016, his expertise in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-east tipping the scales in his favour.

Those that have identified the final for a number of a long time say Rawat all the time thought exterior the field, took laborious choices and was not afraid of difficult the established order, qualities he drew on whereas understanding the broad constructions of India’s proposed theatre instructions.

Son of a three-star basic, Rawat was commissioned into the military in December 1978 after graduating from the Indian Army Academy, Dehradun, the place he was awarded the coveted Sword of Honour for distinctive efficiency. He was commissioned into the 5/11 Gorkha Rifles.

From initiating the largest train to restructure the military to intently supervising India’s two publicly acknowledged surgical strikes on international soil, Rawat, a uncommon basic who didn’t play golf, introduced monumental expertise to the desk as India’s first CDS.

The Rawats have been planning to construct a home in Dehradun and needed to settle there after the completion of his time period as CDS, household pals stated.

In a press release, the military stated Rawat was a visionary who had initiated far-reaching reforms within the army’s increased defence group.

“He was instrumental in creating the inspiration of India’s joint theatre instructions and giving impetus to the elevated indigenization of army gear, a legacy which might be carried on and strengthened by successive generations,” the Military added.

The horrific Mi-17 crash close to Coonoor got here 58 years after high army officers—Lt Gen Daulat Singh, Lt Gen Bikram Singh, Air Vice Marshal EW Pinto, Maj Gen KND Nanavati, Brig S.R. Oberoi and Flight Lieutenant S.S. Sodhi — have been killed in a chopper crash close to Poonch on 22 November 1963.