Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, AVSM & Bar, VSM, IN (Retd) is the current Director of the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. NMF is the first Indian maritime think-tank for conducting independent and policy-relevant research on ‘matters maritime’. He has an impeccable academic and professional lineage. He is an alumnus of Mumbai’s Campion School and St Xavier’s College, the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College, the Naval War College, and, the very prestigious National Defence College. He has had an extremely distinguished four-decade-long career in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy. During this period, he undertook a three-year deputation to the Government of Mauritius, where he conceptualized, set up and commanded the Mauritius National Coast Guard. He was Head of Training Team (Navy) at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He has been the principal evaluator of the Navy’s battle-tactics. He tenanted the post of Principal Director of Naval Operations. He has held as many as four sea-going commands, including that of the guided-missile frigate, the INS Brahmaputra and the aircraft carrier INS Viraat. He was the Navy’s first Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation & Intelligence), where he was hugely successful in positioning the Navy firmly within India’s diplomatic and strategic initiatives. He has conceptualized and executed the Indian Ocean Region’s first international maritime security construct of the 21st Century, viz., the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS). He was the Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Command from 2009 to 2012. He commanded the new and state-of-the-art Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala (Kerala) until his retirement on 30 November 2013. Also, he has been twice commended by the Chief of the Naval Staff and three times by the President of India for sustained distinguished service of an exceptional order.