Ajay D. Theophilus
Rear Admiral Ajay Daniel Theophilus, VSM is a serving flag officer of the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Flag Officer Naval Aviation and Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area. He previously served as the Deputy Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy. He earlier served as the Commanding Officer of INS Hansa and was the commissioning commanding officer of the first Mikoyan MiG-29K naval air squadron INAS 303.
Naval career
Theophilus joined the Indian Naval Academy on 28 August 1987 and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 1 July 1991. He was selected to undergo the pilot's course in June 1992. He trained as a Naval aviator and qualified as a fighter pilot. He has over 3000 hours of flying experience and has flown the HAL HJT-16 Kiran, the HAL HPT-32 Deepak, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, the British Aerospace Sea Harrier and the MiG-29K aircraft.Theophilus completed the Flying Instructors Course in 2001 and has is a Qualified Flying Instructor on Sea Harriers and MiG-29K. In 2004, India ordered the MiG-29K carrier-based fighter aircraft. Theophilus, as a Commander, was selected to head the project. He was appointed Officer-in-Charge Intensive Flying Trials Unit and trained in Russia. As OiC, he led the team for the trials and testing of the aircraft. On 11 May 2013, the naval air squadron INAS 303 was commissioned in Goa. Theophilus was the commissioning commanding officer and was the first Indian Pilot to land MiG-29K on the aircraft carrier.
Theophilus commanded the lead ship of her-class of patrol vessels. In the rank of Captain, he served as the Captain of Vikramaditya. He subsequently commanded the lead ship of her-class of frigates,. He later commanded her sister ship.
In the rank of Commodore, Theophilus headed the directorate of air warfare and flight safety at Naval Headquarters. On 1 August 2020, he took over as Commanding officer of the Naval air station INS Hansa in Goa.