The Indian National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint services academy of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three armed forces (the Army, the Navy and the Air Force) train together before beginning pre-commission training at their respective service academies (Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy (AFA) for army, navy, and air force cadets respectively). Established in 1954 and located in vicinity of Khadakwasla Dam, near Pune, it is the world's first tri-service academy.

NDA is not the only officer training academy in India. Besides NDA, which is tri-service academy, the Indian Army's IMA, Officers Training Academy (OTA), Army Cadet College (ACC), the Indian Navy's INA, and the Air Force's AFA are the other officer training academies of India. Besides cadets from NDA, these academies accept cadets separately from several streams. Apart from these, the Indian Army has three establishments for technical stream which include College of Military Engineering (CME), Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), and Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME). Although cadets are imparted technical training at these three academies, they are commissioned through OTA, Gaya. Excluding all these establishments, which are meant for combat arms, the Indian Army has other commissioning academies for support services such as the Medical Corps, and the Judge Advocate General's Department for example.

Similarly, the Aeronautical Engineers (Electronics) and Aeronautical Engineers (Mechanical) are trained at the Air Force Technical College at Jalahalli, Bengaluru; the Meteorological branch officer cadets get their training at Air Force Administrative College, Coimbatore.

NDA alumni have led and participated in every major conflict in which the Indian Armed Forces have been called into action since the academy was founded. Alumni include three Param Vir Chakra recipients and twelve Ashoka Chakra recipients. The NDA has produced 36 service chiefs of staff, including the incumbent chiefs of staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Chiefs of staff

, the academy has produced 3 Chiefs of Defence Staff, 15 Chiefs of the Army Staff (COAS), 14 Chiefs of the Naval Staff (CNS) and 11 Chiefs of the Air Staff (CAS). All incumbent service chiefs (Chief of the Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan and Chief of the Air Staff ACM Amar Preet Singh) are NDA alumni.

Chief of Defence Staff S.No Name Course Number Notes1General Bipin Rawat 53First CDS2General Anil Chauhan 583General N. S. Raja Subramani 67Current CDS

Chief of the Army Staff S.No Name Course Number Notes1General Sunith Francis Rodrigues 126th Governor of Punjab.2General Bipin Chandra Joshi 5Died in harness.3General Shankar Roychowdhury 10 Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha).4General Ved Prakash Malik 14 5General Sundararajan Padmanabhan 15 6General Nirmal Chander Vij 21 Former National Disaster Management Authority vice-chair; Vivekananda International Foundation director7General Joginder Jaswant Singh 25 14th Governor of Arunachal Pradesh8General Deepak Kapoor 30 9General V. K. Singh 36 25th Governor of Mizoram10General Bikram Singh 40 11General Dalbir Singh Suhag 44 12General Bipin Rawat 53First CDS, Padma Vibhushan13General M. M. Naravane 5614General Manoj Pande 6115General Upendra Dwivedi 65Current COAS.

Chief of the Naval Staff S.No Name Course Number Notes1Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas 12004 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding2Admiral Vijai Singh Shekhawat 7Former Vice Chairman of Outward Bound India; Vivekananda International Foundation advisory board member3Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat 144Admiral Sushil Kumar 165Admiral Madhvendra Singh 20 6Admiral Arun Prakash 26 7Admiral Sureesh Mehta 29 Former High Commissioner to New Zealand.8Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma 3524th High Commissioner to Canada.9Admiral Robin K. Dhowan 4510Admiral Sunil Lanba 51 11Admiral Karambir Singh 5612Admiral R. Hari Kumar 6113Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi 6614Admiral Krishna Swaminathan 70Current CNS.

Chief of the Air Staff S.No Name Course Number Notes1Air Chief Marshal Nirmal Chandra Suri 1 2Air Chief Marshal S. K. Kaul 53Air Chief Marshal Satish Sareen 12 4Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis 15 5Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik 33 6Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne 39 Ambassador to Norway7Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha 448Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa 529Air Chief Marshal R. K. S. Bhadauria 56Former CAS10Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari 6111Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh 65Current CAS.

Gallantry award recipients Wartime , 3 Param Vir Chakras, 32 Maha Vir Chakras and 163 Vir Chakras have been awarded to NDA officers.

Param Vir Chakra Three officers from NDA have posthumously received the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest wartime gallantry award. All three were from the Army. S.No Name Course Number Unit Year 1 Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria 9 3/1 Gorkha Rifles19612Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal 38 17 Poona Horse1971 3Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey 90 1/11 Gorkha Rifles1999

Maha Vir Chakra 32 NDA officers have received the Maha Vir Chakra, India's second-highest wartime gallantry award: two from the Air Force, one from the Navy and the remainder from the Army. Ten received the award posthumously. Air Force squadron leader Padmanabha Gautam is the only NDA officer to receive the award twice, in 1965 and 1971 (posthumously). S.No Name Course Number Unit Year 1Lieutenant Colonel Raj Mohan Vohra 1 Armoured Corps19712Lieutenant Colonel Hanut Singh 1 Armoured Corps 19713Lieutenant Colonel Kulwant Singh Pannu 1 Infantry19714Lieutenant Colonel Narinder Singh Sandhu 2 Infantry 19715Wing Commander Padmanabha Gautam 3 Indian Air Force 1965, 1971 6Major Sushil Kumar Mathur 3 Artillery19657Lieutenant Colonel Sukhjit Singh 4 Armoured Corps 19718Second Lieutenant Shamsher Singh 5 Infantry 19719Lieutenant Colonel Raj Kumar Singh 5 Infantry197110Lieutenant Colonel Harish Chandra Pathak 5 Infantry 197111Wing Commander S. K. Kaul 5 Indian Air Force 1971 12Lieutenant Colonel Ved Prakash Ghai 5 Infantry1971 13Lieutenant Colonel Surinder Kapur 7 Infantry 197114Lieutenant Colonel Ved Prakash Airy 8 Infantry 197215Major Bhaskar Roy 9 Armoured Corps 196516Major Daljit Singh Narang 9 Armoured Corps 1972 17Lieutenant Commander Santosh Kumar Gupta 10 Indian Navy 197118Major Vijay Rattan Choudhry 13 Corps of Engineers 197119Major Vijay Kumar Berry 14 Infantry1971 20Brigadier Manjit Singh 19 Infantry198721Second Lieutenant Bhagwan Dutt Dogra 20 Infantry196222Major Amarjit Singh Bal 22 Armoured Corps197123Captain Gautam Mubayi 23 Infantry196524Captain Pradip Kumar Gour 25 Infantry1971 25Major Basdev Singh Mankotia 28 Infantry197126Lieutenant Colonel Inderbal Singh Bawa 30 Infantry197127Captain Devinder Singh Ahlawat 31 Infantry1971 28Major Vivek Gupta 802 Rajputana 199929Captain Anuj Nayyar 90 17 Jat199930Captain Gurjinder Singh Suri 90 12 Bihar200131Colonel B. Santosh Babu10216 Bihar2021

Vir Chakra 163 NDA alumni have been awarded the Vir Chakra, India's third-highest wartime award. Of these, 96 are from the Army, 13 from the Navy and 54 from the Air Force. Notable recipients include Admirals Laxminarayan Ramdas, Vijai Singh Shekhawat, Arun Prakash, Lieutenant General Yogesh Kumar Joshi and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

Peacetime , 12 Ashok Chakras, 45 Kirti Chakras, and 152 Shaurya Chakras, have been awarded to NDA officers.

Ashoka Chakra Twelve NDA officers have received the Ashok Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry award. Of them, one is from the Air Force and the remainder are from the Army. Eleven officers received the award posthumously. Wing commander Rakesh Sharma of the Air Force is the only living NDA Air Force officer to receive the award.

S.No Name Course Number Unit Notes1Second Lieutenant Pollur Mutthuswamy Raman103 Sikh LiCI Ops Naga Hill-03 Jun 1956 2Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma 35 Indian Air ForceOnly Indian national to go into space; Hero of the Soviet Union 3Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair 38 16 Maratha Light Infantry1994; Kirti Chakra (1983) 4Major Sudhir Kumar Walia 729 Para (SF) 2000; Sena Medal recipient5Captain Arun Singh Jasrotia 73 9 Para (SF)1996; Sena Medal recipient6Major Rajiv Kumar Joon 78 22 Grenadiers1995; Shaurya Chakra recipient7Second Lieutenant Rakesh Singh 79 22 Grenadiers19938Second Lieutenant Puneet Nath Datt 87 1/11 Gorkha Rifles 19979Major Mohit Sharma 951 Para (SF)2010; Sena Medal recipient 10Major Dinesh Raghu Raman 95 Rashtriya Rifles 2008; COAS commendation11Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan 94 7 Bihar51 SAG (NSG) 2009, Operation Black Tornado12Captain Harshan R Nair1012 Para (SF) 2007

Kirti Chakra Forty five NDA alumni have received the Kirti Chakra, India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award. Notable recipients include Colonel Neelakantan Jayachandran Nair, who is also an Ashok Chakra recipient and Lieutenant colonel Nectar Sanjenbam who is also a Shaurya Chakra recipient.

Shaurya Chakra A total of 152 NDA alumni have received the Shaurya Chakra, India's third-highest peacetime gallantry award. Notable recipients include Major Rajiv Kumar Joon, who is also an Ashok Chakra recipient.

Padma Awards The Padma Awards - Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri - are among the highest civilian honours in India.

Padma Vibhushan General Bipin Rawat (53rd course) served as the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Indian Armed Forces from January 2020 until his death in a helicopter crash in December 2021. Prior to taking over as the CDS, he served as the 57th Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (Chairman COSC) of the Indian Armed Forces as well as 27th Chief of the Army Staff. He was posthumously honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2022.

Padma Bhushan Commodore Arogyaswami Paulraj (25th course), an Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, is noted for pioneering MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) wireless technology. This transformative innovation is the cornerstone of today's universal 4G/5G mobile and WiFi networks and has earned him numerous global awards.

Commissioned in 1965, he retired pre-maturely from the Indian Navy in 1991 before emigrating to the US. During his Naval service, he led the development of APSOH, the world's leading shallow-water anti-submarine sonar system, contributing significantly to the country's self-reliance. Paulraj also founded three national laboratories for the Indian government: the Center for AI and Robotics, the Center for Development of Advanced Computing, and the Central Research Labs (BEL). He received the Padma Bhushan in 2010 for his contributions to defense technology in India.

Padma Shri

Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (77th course) won the Silver medal in men's double trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was awarded the Arjuna Award, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri. He also won 3 gold medals and 1 silver medal in the Commonwealth Games and 1 silver and 1 bronze medal in the Asian Games.

He joined politics and was elected as the Member of Parliament from Jaipur, Rajasthan and served as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information & Broadcasting, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports the Government of India.

Others No. Name Military awards Course number Notes1Major General Ian Cardozo AVSM, SM12 First NDA cadet to receive both gold and silver medals; First war-disabled officer of the Indian Army to command a battalion and a brigade.

Notes Footnotes

Citations

References

External links

Official website of NDA