Prakash was born and grew up in the Kashmir Valley. His father was in the Kasmir Civil Service and rose to become the District Commissioner of Leh.[2] His two elder brothers also joined the Indian Armed Forces,serving in the Indian Army. Although he wanted to join the Navy,he attended college in Chandigarh for two years at the insistence of his father before joining the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 1961. He graduated from NDA in 1964 as the Cadet Captain of his squadron.[3]
During the operations against Pakistan in December 1971,Lieutenant Arun Prakash was one of the two naval pilots on deputation to the Indian Air Force. On 4 December he led an Indian Air Force strike mission to an enemy airfield. In this mission,he destroyed enemy's heavy transport on ground and returned to base. On 5 December he led a very deep penetration day operational strike into enemy territory and attacked airfields heavily defended by air and ground forces. He destroyed enemy's heavy transport aircraft,attacked troops and supplies and returned to base.
Throughout,Lieutenant Arun Prakash displayed gallantry,leadership and devotion to duty of a high order.[5]
After the war,Prakash served afloat in Vikrant,INSKirpan,and INS Delhi on which he received his watch keeping ticket. Promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 May 1976,he flew the Super Constellation that year for maritime air reconnaissance with Indian Navy Air Squadron 312.[6] In 1978,he was appointed commanding officer of the Chamak-class missile boatINSChatak(K96). The following year,he was selected to attend the staff course at the Defence Services Staff College,Wellington. In December 1979,he took over as the squadron commander of INAS 300,serving till May 1980. He was promoted to the rank of commander on 1 July 1980.[7] After the short tenure as 'Tiger Leader',he was appointed commanding officer of the training frigate INSBeas,on which young midshipmen were trained. In November 1979,India placed its first order for six British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS Mk 51 fighters and two T Mk 60 Trainers.[8] Prakash was selected by the CNSAdmiralR. H. Tahiliani to induct the Sea Harriers into the Navy. He took command of INAS 300 for the second time in July 1981. He supervised the training of Indian Navy crew members in the United Kingdom for the Sea Harrier and ferried the newly acquired aircraft back to India in 1983. He was promoted to captain on 1 July 1986.[9] In his aviation assignments,he logged more than 2,500 hours in the air in single and multi-engined,shore-based and carrier-based aircraft.[10] He then took over as Captain (Air) of the naval air stationINS Hansa and subsequently as Commanding Officer.[10]
After over five years at Goa as squadron commander,Captain (Air) and CO,Prakash was appointed CO of the antisubmarine warfare frigate INSVindhyagiri. In 1989,he was selected to attend the Naval War College in Rhode Island. After the course,he returned to India and was appointed the third commanding officer of the new aircraft carrier INSViraat(R22). He was in command of Viraat till December 1991. In 1992,he was appointed Naval Assistant to the Chief of the Naval Staff AdmiralLaxminarayan Ramdas.[11]
Flag rank
After serving as NA for a year,on 4 January 1993,Prakash was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) (ACNS Air).[12] On 1 April 1995,after a two-year stint as ACNS,he was appointed the 21st Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. He was in command of the Eastern Fleet for about a year-and-a-half. In late-1996,he moved to Naval HQ as Assistant Chief of Personnel (ACOP).
Prakash was promoted to Full Admiral and was appointed the 20th Chief of Naval Staff on 31 July 2004.[1] With the retirement of GeneralNirmal Chander Vij,Admiral Prakash took over as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee on 31 January 2005.[15] While serving as Chief of Naval Staff,Prakash played an important role in renewing the Indian Navy's relationships with the United States Navy[16] and in developing a vision of India's maritime strategy. Prakash retired as Chief of Naval Staff in October 2006.[17] He retired from the post of Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee at the same time.
Post-retirement
Prakash settled in Goa after retiring from the Navy. He was the Distinguished Chair at the Naval War College,Goa from 2016 to 2022.[18]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Param Vishist Seva Medal 
Ati Vishist Seva Medal 
Vir Chakra 
Vishisht Seva Medal 
India 
Indian Navy 
Admiral 
