Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo assumed responsibility as the First Flag Officer of the newly created post of ‘ Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air Materiel) [ACNS/AM] at the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) on Wednesday, July 17th, 2013.
This new post has been created with a single point responsibility for all matters related to aviation technical management of the rapidly growing air arm of the Indian Navy. He will have 3 sub-directorates looking at air logistics, plans/procurement and perspectives and systems engineering, as well as responsibilty for air technical manpower management.
Interestingly Rear Admiral Kanugo will report to the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chatterjee and not the Chief of Materiel, Vice Admiral N N Kumar. This is due to the inherently operational side imperative of air maintenance, which can present an operational tempo different to the other, more traditional arms of the Navy.
The air arm of the Indian Navy operates over 200 aircraft with over 20 different types including fighters, fixed wing maritime reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles etc.
New infrastructure needs of the Indian Navy which recently marked its Diamond Jubilee are being added with new air stations like INS Parundu in Ramnathapuram, INS Baaz in Campbell Bay and several other multiple enclaves across the country. The Air arm of the Indian Navy is growing at a fast pace and the Indian Navy is not restricted to just being a Green Water Navy. ( Green Water means the fleet comprises only battle ships while the Blue Water Navy includes the possession of aircraft as well ).
Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo grew up in Hyderabad and did his schooling in many places in the State including a local government school and in Nagarjunasagar. He pursued his Engineering in JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur. He joined the Indian Navy via his selection to ‘Indian Navy’s University Entry Scheme’ wherein his final years fees was paid by the Navy. Commissioned in 1981 he opted for the aviation stream of the Indian Navy, while the other two streams being submarine and ships. He pursued his Masters from the Institute of Armament Technology, Pune
During his 32 years of commissioned services in the Indian Navy – Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo has been Director of the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology at Kochi. The Chief Controller of Naval Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service. He held the post of Commodore Superintendent Naval Aircraft Yard – Kochi. He was also the Chief Staff Officer(Technical)at the Headquarter Naval Aviation, and the Principal Director at the Directorate of Naval Air Materiel at the Head Quarter, Ministry of Defence(Navy).
He was awarded Vishist Sewa Medal (VSM) in 2013 for his outstanding service and contribution to the Indian Navy.