Wing Commander Pramod Kumar Mehra (11581) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the Air Force in May 68. In 1985 he attended a Test Pilot course where in he stood second. In 1976, he had undergone Attack Pilot Flying Instructor's course and stood first in the course. He is also an experimental Test Pilot from Aircraft and System Testing Establishment Bangalore and he stood first in this course also.

Till date Wg Mehra has got 3430.00 hrs on twenty different types of aircraft to his credit and has totally accident free personal flying record.

In June 86, he took over command of a fighter Squadron. By his leadership, dedication and hard work he has brought laurels to the Squadrons. It is noteworthy that one junior pilot of the rank of pilot officer was made fully operational within 7 month of his commencing flying. It is an exceptional achievement by every standard.

During 1986-87 the Squadron was declared Winner of the HAL trophy for best performance Squadron HAL build aircraft. During 1987, the Squadron won the over all championship for Inter Squadron Armament meet in an operational Air Command. During this Armament meet, Wg Cdr Mehra personally led the Gunnery and Rocketry events and in both these events the teams stood first.

For his exceptional leadership professional competence of a very high order and dedication to his work, the President is pleased to award Vayu Sena Medal to Wg Cdr Pramod Kumar Mehra.

Air Vice Marshal Pramod Kumar Mehra, VM (11581) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned on 18 May 1968 in the Flying Branch of the Indian Air Force. During his 36 years of distinguished service, he has held various appointments including Commanding Officer of a fighter squadron, Test Pilots' School, Station Commander of a front line Air Force Station, Commandant of Aircraft and System Testing Establishment, AOC of an operational base and Air Defence Commander of SWAC. He has over 5000 hrs of flying on over 30 different types of aircraft to his credit. He is an alumnus of the College of Defence Management and the National Defence College. He was awarded Vayu Seva Medal in 1989 for his distinguished services. Presently, he is Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) at Air Headquarters.

As ACAS (Int), Air Vice Marshal Mehra has been instrumental in synergizing the work in the Directorate and the newly formed Defence Intelligence Agency. This has contributed towards shaping the structure envisaged by the Group of Ministers (GOM) recommendations and the RM's post-Kargil Directives. His efforts have helped streamline the flow of information and enmesh various functions of the Dte of Int towards realizing the envisaged objectives. While doing so, he contributed towards making the restructured Joint Services Intelligence Committee (JSIC) more effective by ensuring regularity of meetings and involvement of other military and civil agencies.

Air Vice Marshal Mehra has reoriented the focus of the Directorate from general to “actionable" intelligence. He has lead greater emphasis on analysis of intelligence and has actively involved the user Branches at Air HQ. Towards this, a system of regular intelligence briefings at Air HQ now encourages a participative role by the Operations Branch and the Int Directorate of other Services. Special studies are now conducted each month aimed at understanding the regional/global security environment. He has initiated steps towards hi-tech upgradation of photo interpretation facilities at Air HQ and has proactively guided Air Force Liaison Units towards counter intelligence functions in order to meet present and future demands. Under his stewardship, a systematic review of outdated directives/policies on intelligence and security has been carried out so as to make them contemporary and futuristic. He steered a project study of a futuristic Intelligence Network for timely and need-based access to imageries and intelligence data by field users.

Air Vice Marshal Mehra has consistently rendered timely advice on matters of defence cooperation in order to facilitate intelligence sharing, training and strategizing defence trades.

Air Vice Marshal Pramod Kumar Mehra, VM has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Marshal Pramod Kumar Mehra AVSM VM (11581) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the IAF as a fighter pilot in the Flying branch on 18 May 1968. He has held various important appointments which include Commandant of Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Director Air Staff Requirements (DASR) at Air HQ, Air Officer Commanding of Air Force Station, Hasimara, Air Defence Commander (AD Cdr) of South Western Sector, Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) [ACAS {Int}] at Air HQ, and Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at HQ Central Air Command (CAC). He took over as Air Officer Commanding-inChief of the prestigious South Western Air Command at Gandhinagar on 01 March 06. For his distinguished services, he has been awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2005 and Vayu Sena Medal in 1989. The Air Officer took part in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 and is one of the most experienced test pilots in the IAF today. He has successfully supervised many projects in various capacities at ASTE, thus contributing immensely towards improving the operational potential of the IAF. As DASR at Air HQ, he most creditably performed the job of laying down air staff requirements for acquisition of various assets by the IAF, He was member of the Price Negotiation Committees (PNC) for the Advanced Jet Trainer (Hawk) and proved his acumen as an able negotiator during these negotiations. As AD Cdr, he was responsible for the Air Defence of the South Western Sector during Op Parakram and performed his role exceedingly well with limited resources and constraints of ageing equipment. He was ACAS (Int) at Air HQ at a time when the International defence cooperation between the IAF and friendly foreign countries was on a major upswing. His efforts were contributory towards successful conduct of bilateral visits with the other Air Forces including visits by the Chiefs of Air Staff. He also provided necessary support to the nascent Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) from Air HQ, especially towards implementation of recommendations of Group of Ministers (GoM) post Kargil War. As SASO, HQ CAC, he was responsible for all the operational activities of the most well endowed Command of the IAF which has almost all types of aircraft and equipment in Air Force inventory. During this tenure he was instrumental in increasing the operational potential by introducing a series of Intra Command exercises, greater stress on enhanced training and standardizing new concepts in operations like Aerial Refueling and Combat Search & Rescue. His tenure saw meticulous planning & successful conduct of International Air Force exercises in which Squadrons based in CAC participated in joint exercises between 1AF and foreign countries like US, Singapore, South Africa, and France. These exercises earned IAF a place of pride due to its professionalism and propelled it towards being recognized as a global force with strategic reach.

As AOC-in-C SWAC, he has given a fresh impetus to the Command in its surge forward by his focused vision and a clear foresight. Successful conduct of Air Force Exercise, Gagan Shakti recently has refined the operational readiness of the IAF and has once again shown the able leadership provided by Air Marshal Mehra from SWAC. Many new concepts and systems were tried and validated during this exercise. Be it in the field of Information Technology or the infrastructure development in the Stations, SWAC is making big strides under his stewardship. The area of responsibility of SWAC recently saw unprecedented rains and floods which caused widespread damage and loss of life in these States. Rescue and relief operations launched under his guidance were prompt and well coordinated despite limited resources when compared to the magnitude of devastation. The timely succour provided by the Air Force was widely appreciated by the State Govts and was a result of his innovative idea of providing training to the district officials by air force personnel before the onset of monsoon.

Air Marshal Pramod Kumar Mehra AVSM VM has thus rendered distinguished service of most exceptional order.