Rear Admiral Sudarshan Y Shrikhande, AVSM (Retd) graduated from the National Defence Academy, Pune in 1979. His qualifications include Masters in Weapon and Sonar Engineering from the Soviet Naval War College (1985-88); M.Sc Defence Services Staff College, Wellington (1995); M.Phil from the Indian Naval War College; highest distinction from the US Naval War College (2003) and a PhD from Mumbai University (June 2025) for his thesis on sea-based nuclear deterrence. He has commanded three ships after a long tenure as the antisubmarine warfare officer of a destroyer and has also been the Executive Officer of INS Delhi. He has served as the Defence Attaché in Australia and the South Pacific. In flag rank, he was Director of Naval Intelligence, Chief of Staff Southern Naval Command, and in the nuclear forces command, Flag Officer Doctrines and Concepts. After retirement in 2016, he is a visiting professor at several institutions specializing in strategy, operational art, Peloponnesian War, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, leadership and ethics and Atmanirbharta / Self-Reliance in defence production. He has participated in Track 2 discussions with some countries and in various national / international conferences and workshops and written for national and international journals. He is a visiting professor at the Naval War College, Goa; Honorary Senior Fellow with ANCORS, Wollongong and a Distinguished Fellow at the Australia-India Institute, University of Melbourne.
