Vikram Menon

Rear Admiral Vikram Menon, VSM is a serving flag officer of the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area. His previous stints include Joint Secretary to the Government of India (Navy & Defence Staff) at the Department of Military Affairs in Ministry of Defence, Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA) and Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area (FOGA), and Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Air) at Naval headquarters.

Naval career Menon graduated from the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 January 1990. He trained as a Naval aviator. He qualified as a fighter pilot on the British Aerospace Sea Harrier. He has over 2000 hours of flying experience and became a Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI). He was a senior pilot in INAS 300, the longest serving combat unit of the Indian Navy. He has flown the Sea Harrier extensively from the aircraft carrier

Menon commanded the Trinkat-class patrol vessel and the Sukanya-class patrol vessel . He also commanded the Naval Flight Test Squadron INAS 552. As a Captain, he commanded the Deepak-class fleet tanker . He was in command of INS Shakti during the International Fleet Review 2016 at Visakhapatnam. As part of the Eastern Fleet in 2015, INS Shakti, under his command, visited Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia and Australia as part of India's Act East policy.

He also served as the executive officer of the Rajput-class Guided-missile destroyer . He subsequently attended the Higher Naval Command course at the Naval War College, Goa. Menon then served as the Director of Aircraft Acquisition at Naval Headquarters.

Promoted to the rank of commodore, Menon took over as Commanding officer (CO) of the Naval air station INS Hansa in Goa. For his tenure as CO INS Hansa, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal on 26 January 2018. He subsequently served as the Chief Staff Officer (Air) at Headquarters Naval Aviation to the then FONA Rear Admiral P. G. Pynumootil. After about one-and-a-half years as FOGA/FONA, Menon was appointed Joint Secretary (Navy & Defence Staff) at the Department of Military Affairs. On 21 August, he moved to Karwar as the Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area (FOK).

Awards and decorations