Lieutenant General Joginder Jaswant Singh will succeed Gen N C Vij when the latter retires as the chief of army staff on January 31, according to an official announcement in New Delhi.

Gen Singh, who is right now the general officer commanding-in-chief, Western Command, will become the first Sikh officer to head the army.

An alumni of the National Defence Staff College, Wellington, Gen Singh has held prestigious positions including general officer commanding-in-chief, Army Training Command, and additional director general of military operations.

As ADGMO, the general became the army's public face during the 1999 Kargil conflict.

He is a recipient of the Param Vishist Sewa Medal, the nation's highest peacetime military award.

In his operational role, Gen Singh commanded the Mountain Brigade in Baramullah in Jammu and Kashmir, a division in the western sector and one of the army's three strike corps.