By: Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retired), Editor, GSDN
On May 07, 2025 at 1.05 am as India attacked Pakistan in what would become the 88-hour war which was codenamed “Operation Sindoor”, General Upendra Dwivedi, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), Indian Army was sanguine that the Indian Army would emerge victorious in the tasks assigned to the world’s finest army that he was commanding as its Chief.
It is the dream of every officer who serves in any nation’s army to become its chief and to emerge victorious in any war that the officer fights for his/her nation. And General Upendra Dwivedi achieved both!
Commissioned on December 15, 1984 in the Jammu & Kashmir Rifles known as JAK RIF, a distinguished regiment of the Infantry of the Indian Army, General Upendra Dwivedi assumed the command of the Indian Army as its 30th COAS on June 30, 2024 and led the Indian Army to victory, as yet again India defeated Pakistan in the hard-hitting swift and short war “Operation Sindoor”, the fifth military conflict between India and Pakistan since 1947.
As the tenure of General Upendra Dwivedi as the Indian Army’s 30th COAS comes to an end today, the Chief would be remembered for the yeoman service rendered to India while commanding the world’s finest army.
General Upendra Dwivedi’s tenure highlights included the rapid progress of the Indian Army for modernisation, operational preparedness, technology adoption and defence indigenisation, taking the organisation towards becoming a technology-driven and future-ready force.
Last year, the Army Chief spelt-out the five pillars of the army transformation which included – technology absorption, structural reforms, human resource development, greater jointness amongst the three Services and outcome-oriented military effectiveness.
With the aim of greater operational preparedness and creating a more agile and multi-domain force, General Upendra Dwivedi ordered the raising of Rudra all-arms brigades, Bhairav light commando battalions, Shaktibaan artillery regiments and Divyastra batteries.
General Upendra Dwivedi in his two-year long tenure as the COAS ensured large-scale integration of drones in the world’s second biggest standing army, while also focussing on counter-drone capabilities, the results of which were evident during Operation Sindoor as the Indian Army successfully thwarted the drones sent across in huge numbers by Pakistan.
Brigadier Naveen Singh, Vr.C, VSM (Retired), who was the Gentlemen Cadet under the COAS when he was posted as Instructor in the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, eventually getting commissioned in JAK RIF, in an interview with the Global Strategic & Defence News, recounted fondly the decades-long association with General Upendra Dwivedi, describing him as well-read, humble and with honesty of purpose.
Brigadier Naveen Singh (Retired) further went on to add that while serving under the Army Chief when he was the Colonel Q of a formation in which the Brigadier was then commanding an Assam Rifles Battalion and then again when the Chief was Director General Infantry and the Brigadier was commanding an Infantry Brigade, the professionalism as well as the humane touch that General Upendra Dwivedi exhibited while interacting with Brigadier Naveen Singh (Retired), left him mesmerised by the clarity in thought process that the Army Chief exhibited.
Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Mukul Kulkarni (Retired), while speaking to the Global Strategic & Defence News, spoke with pride of being the Second-in-Command of the COAS when he was commanding 18 JAK RIF, adding that the Chief was the first commissioned officer of 18 JAK RIF to command the battalion, further describing the COAS as an extremely hardworking, rational and immensely professional, who always led from the front.
Lt Col Mukul Kulkarni (Retd) recounted an interesting incident when the battalion under the command of Colonel (later General) Upendra Dwivedi, came second in the Battle Physical Efficiency Test Competition conducted in the Infantry Brigade, that the battalion was part of, due to not performing well in the monkey-rope test. Consequently, Colonel (later General) Upendra Dwivedi, ensured that every personnel of the battalion before proceeding on leave would pass the monkey-rope test and would personally stand to watch it happen. As a result, 18 JAK RIF won the next year’s Battle Physical Efficiency Test Competition of the Infantry Brigade!
After a distinguished service of nearly 42 years, General Upendra Dwivedi’s tenure as the Indian Army’s 30th COAS will be remembered for the leadership during Operation Sindoor, technology-driven military transformation, the expansion of drone warfare capabilities, strengthening the Tri-Services jointness and structural reforms for multidomain operations.
About the Author
Lt Col JS Sodhi (Retd) is the Founder-Editor, Global Strategic & Defence News and has authored the book “China’s War Clouds: The Great Chinese Checkmate”. He tweets at @JassiSodhi24.
