Asif Sandila

Asif Sandila
USN CNO Admiral Gary Roughead meets with Admiral Asif Sandila during an office call at Pakistan Naval Academy.
Birth name	Muhammad Asif Sandila
Born	1954 (age 69–70) Shaikhupura, Punjab Province, West-Pakistan
Allegiance	Pakistan
Service / branch	Pakistan Navy
Years of service	1975 - Present
Rank	Admiral
Unit	Naval Operations Branch
Commands	Chief of Naval Staff Chief of Staff Commander Pakistan Fleet DCNS (Projects and Operations) 25th Destroyer Squadron Pakistan Coast Guard Naval Strategic Forces Command Pakistan Naval Observatory Naval Secretary to the Prime minister
Battles / wars	Indo-Pakistani War of 1999 Atlantique Incident Operation Enduring Freedom - HOA Operation Madad-I Operation Madad-II Operation Umeed-e-Nuh
Awards	Legion of Honour Hilal-i-Imtiaz (military)

Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila, (Urdu: محمد ﺁصف سندیلہ; born: 1954, HI(M), L'honneur), is a 4-star rank admiral who is the current and 19th Chief of Naval Staff of Pakistan Navy.. He has been nominated by the President Asif Ali Zardari, on the request of Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, to take over as Chief of the Naval Staff on October 7th, 2011 upon retirement of current Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Noman Bashir.

Naval career

Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila joined Pakistan Navy in 1972 and after initial training at Pakistan Naval Academy, he was selected for training at Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth (UK). He was commissioned in the Operations Branch in June 1975. He specialized as Principal Warfare Officer from UK. He did Naval Command and Staff Course from Indonesia and M Sc (War Studies) from National Defence University. He has held various command and staff appointments. On operational sea billets, he has commanded Pakistan Navy destroyer PNS BADR and has also commanded 25th Destroyer Squadron of Pakistan Navy.

Staff Appointments

On staff side, he has served as Divisional Officer and Training Commander at Pakistan Naval Academy and Fleet Operations Officer to Commander Pakistan Fleet. At Naval Headquarters, he was assigned the duties of Flag Lt to Chief of the Naval Staff, Director Project (Plans), Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Plans) and Principal Secretary to Chief of the Naval Staff. He was promoted to Flag rank in Nov 2005. As Flag Officer, he has headed the Operations and Project Branches of PN in the capacity of Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Projects) at Naval Headquarters Islamabad. In the field, he has been DG Maritime Security Agency, Commander Pakistan Fleet and Commander Logistics before taking over his present appointment as Chief of Staff (COS) at Naval Headquarters. He is recipient of the award of Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) and Chevalier de II order National Due Merit for rescue of French national in Maldives during Tsunami in December 2004. He has taken the oath as the Chief of the Naval Staff on October 7th 2011.