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Army Training Command

The Army Training Command, abbreviated as ARTRAC, is one of the seven commands of the Indian Army. It is currently based at Shimla. It was established on 1 October 1991 at Mhow.

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Jun 8, 2026
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Army Training Command
Insignia of ARTRAC
Active1991 – Present
Country India
Branch Indian Army
TypeCommand
RoleTraining
HeadquartersShimla
Anniversaries1 October (Raising Day)
Commanders
GOC-in-CLieutenant General Devendra Sharma, PVSM AVSM SM
Notable
commanders		Gen Shankar Roy Chowdhury
Gen J. J. Singh
Gen Deepak Kapoor
Gen M. M. Naravane
Insignia
Flag

The Army Training Command, abbreviated as ARTRAC, is one of the seven commands of the Indian Army. It is currently based at Shimla.1 It was established on 1 October 1991 at Mhow.

History

The Army Training Command was established on 1 October 1991 at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh and moved to Shimla on 31 March 1993.2 The Indian Army has diverse, intensive and variegated Operational responsibilities. Due to constant change in the complexion of the future battlefield combined with rapid technological advances, a need to restructure and streamline our overall training structure was identified. The aim was to maximize effectiveness of our training and establish a dedicated organization for formulating concepts and doctrines, which are specifically applicable to our operational environment.2 The requirement was to be met by the establishment of a centralized, independent and high-powered organization, with the requisite infrastructure and resources to meet all aspects of concepts and doctrine development, training policies and institutional training.2

In 2020, it was decided to merge the Directorate General of Military Training (DGMT) with ARTRAC.3 DGMT runs the Rashtriya Military Schools (RMS).4

Objectives

Its roles are to:

  • Formulate concepts and doctrines of warfare in the fields of strategy, operational art, tactics, logistics, training and human resource development stimulating a real-time scenario.
  • Acts as the nodal agency for all institutional training in the Army
  • Evolve joint doctrines in conjunction with other Services
  • Integrating technology like simulation-based war-gaming into training modules

List of Commanders

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Army Training Command
S.No Rank Name Assumed office Left office Unit of Commission References
1 Lieutenant General A. S. Kalkat PVSM, UYSM, AVSM 1 October 1991 31 July 1992 8th Gorkha Rifles 5
2 Shankar Roychowdhury PVSM[1] 1 August 1992 22 November 1994 20th Lancers 6
3 S. K. Sharma 22 November 1994 31 March 1997 Armoured Corps
4 Vijay Oberoi PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 April 1997 15 October 1999 Maratha Light Infantry 7
5 H. B. Kala PVSM, AVSM, SC 15 October 1999 1 April 2001 Jat Regiment 8
6 Shamsher Singh Mehta PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 April 2001 31 October 2002 63rd Cavalry 9
7 Shantanu Choudhry PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 November 2002 31 December 2002 Regiment of Artillery 10
8 J. J. Singh PVSM, AVSM, VSM[2] 1 January 2003 30 January 2004 Maratha Light Infantry 11
9 K. Nagaraj PVSM, UYSM 1 February 2004 15 August 2005 Maratha Light Infantry 12
10 Deepak Kapoor PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM[3] 15 August 2005 31 September 2005 Regiment of Artillery 13
11 K. S. Jamwal PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 October 2005 31 December 2006 Regiment of Artillery 14
12 M. L. Naidu PVSM, AVSM, YSM 1 January 2007 30 September 2007 Rajput Regiment 15
13 J. K. Mohanty UYSM, SM, VSM 1 October 2007 31 December 2008 Dogra Regiment 16
14 B. S. Jaswal PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 January 2009 30 September 2009 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles 17
15 Arvinder Singh Lamba PVSM, AVSM 1 October 2009 1 December 2010 Regiment of Artillery 18
16 K. Surendra Nath PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 January 2011 30 May 2013 Mechanised Infantry 19
17 Sanjeev Madhok PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 June 2013 30 July 2015 Brigade of Guards 20
18 P M Hariz PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM 1 August 2015 31 August 2016 Mechanized Infantry 21
19 Dewan Rabindranth Soni VSM 17 September 2016 30 November 2017 Central India Horse 22
20 Manoj Mukund Naravane AVSM, SM, VSM[4] 1 December 2017 30 September 2018 Sikh Light Infantry 23
21 P C Thimayya PVSM, VSM 1 November 2018 30 April 2020 Mechanised Infantry Regiment 24
22 Raj Shukla PVSM, YSM, SM 1 May 2020 31 March 2022 Regiment of Artillery 25
23 Surinder Singh Mahal PVSM, AVSM, VSM 1 April 2022 30 November 2023 41 Armoured Regiment 26
24 Manjinder Singh AVSM, YSM, VSM 1 December 2023 30 June 2024 Madras Regiment 27
25 Devendra Sharma PVSM, AVSM, SM 1 July 2024 Incumbent 14th Horse (Scinde Horse) 28
Notes

Notes

1.^Later became the Chief of Army Staff.

References

References

  1. "Ministry of Defence". Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  2. John Pike. "Army Training Command (ARTRAC)". globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. In the works for Army Training Command — wings for training, validation & more officers, The Print, 24 Aug 2019.
  4. "Bangalore Military School, Bangalore Military School detailed information, Admission Process for Bangalore Military School". Retrieved 22 June 2016.
  5. "Sky diving, bike stunts leave spectators spellbound : The Tribune India".
  6. "Shankar Roy Chowdhury appointed new chief of army staff". India Today. 15 December 1994. Retrieved 5 September 2024. (subscription required)
  7. "Army Training Command may be moved from Shimla to Ambala". Hindustan Times. 28 January 2019.
  8. "tribuneindia... Himachal".
  9. "Lt. Gen. S. S. Mehta Takes Over Army Training Command" (PDF). Press Information Bureau of India – Archive. 1 April 2001. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  10. "Minor reshuffle likely at Army hq". The Hindu. 1 November 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  11. "The colours of Army green". frontline.thehindu.com.
  12. Feb 9, Rahul Singh (9 February 2004). "'Ganpat' generals going great guns | Chandigarh News – Times of India". The Times of India.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. "Nagalim.NL News". www.nagalim.nl.
  14. "Lt Gen Kapoor to be new VCOAS; Panag, Jamwal to head N, E Cmds". www.oneindia.com. 26 December 2006.
  15. "Lt Gen Naidu to take charge on January 1". Hindustan Times. 26 December 2006.
  16. "English Releases". pib.gov.in.
  17. "Lt Gen B S Jaswal takes charge of Northern Command today – Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com.
  18. "Army training command gets new chief". Hindustan Times. 1 October 2009.
  19. "LT Gen K Surendra Nath takes charge of ARTRAC – Hill Post". 31 December 2010.
  20. Pioneer, The. "lt Gen Madhok takes over command of Army training". The Pioneer.
  21. "..:: India Strategic ::. APPOINTMENTS: Lt Gen Hariz assumes charge of ARTRAC". www.indiastrategic.in. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  22. "Lt Gen Soni is GOC-in-Chief of ARTRAC". The Tribune India.
  23. "Lt Gen Naravane takes over as ARTRAC chief : The Tribune India".
  24. "Lt Gen Thimmaya takes over as GoC Army Training Command, Shimla". The Economic Times. 1 November 2018.
  25. "Lt Gen Raj Shukla assumes command of the ARTRAC". United News of India. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  26. "Lieutenant General Surinder Singh Mahal took over the command of ARTRAC today". Hindi Latestly. 1 April 2022.
  27. "Lieutenant General Manjinder Singh assumed the command of Army Training Command". Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  28. "Lt Gen Devendra Sharma takes over as new Army training command chief". The Times of India. 1 July 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
External links