On April 30, Lieutenant General Manoj Pandey will be appointed as the new Army Chief of the country after the retirement of  the present Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane . After M M Naravane, Lt. Gen Monoj Pandey is the most senior officer in the army. He will assume charge on May 1.

Lt. Gen Manoj Pandey will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers ( The Bombay Sappers) in December 1982 ,to be named as the COAS. This position was formerly held by officers from the Infantry, Armoured, and Artillery. In his career,he has so far commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre, an infantry brigade along LOC, and a mountain division in the Ladakh Sector. He was the Commander of Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command also.

During Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala Sector of Jammu and Kashmir, along the Line of Control, the General officer led the 117 Engineer Regiment. He commanded on Engineer Regiment along the Line of Actual Control ( LAC) , an engineer brigade as part of the Strike Corps, and a Corps stationed along the LAC as well as in the area of counter insurgency operations in the North East.