Wing Commander Shirish Baban Deo (15681) Flying (Pilot) took over the command of a frontline fighter squadron on 19 Jan 98. His squadron was the only squadron that carried out operational flying training and other operational commitments simultaneously. Wg Cdr Deo has led the squadron from the front through out his tenure and has flown more than 700 sorties during the period. Having served as DS at Flying Instructors School and Tactics and Combat Development Establishment, he has used his experience and expertise to improve the training standards of the squadron and ensured accident free flying without sacrificing the quality of training.

The squadron has also performed extremely well during all inspection visits. Wg Cdr Deo's professional attitude, exceptional standard in weapon delivery and air combat skills have motivated the squadron pilots to maximise their potential. He has been thoroughly involved in all maintenance-related activities and has ensured the cohesiveness so essential in a combat unit. The Squadron has initiated various welfare and educational assistance schemes for airman's children, which helped in sustaining high morale of Squadron personnel.

For his exceptional qualities of leadership, devotion to duty, dynamism, safety consciousness, dedicated efforts for betterment of service and ability to inculcate professionalism, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vayu Sena Medal' to Wing Commander Shirish Baban Deo.

Group Captain Shirish Baban Deo VM (15681) F (P) commissioned as a fighter pilot in the IAF, had stood first in flying and went on to accumulate over 3900 accident free flying hours. He has been the Directing Staff at Flying Instructor School and Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment. An exceptional professional, he has shown impeccable performance in the field. He has won trophies in every gunnery meet he has participated. For his exceptional devotion to duty, he has been awarded VM in 01.

At Air HQ, he was responsible for the design, planning and implementation of the Air HQ Operations Centre, an excellent design which has been replicated at National and Command HQs level. As the member secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee on Air Defence programme he helped in focusing the strategy. As Chief Operations Officer at Air Force Station Pathankot he designed the Graphical User Interface and Algorithms for the Campus Area Network - a break through towards IT automation at no cost to the organisation.

On taking over Signals Unit (SU), he conceived, designed and implemented a method to pass the latest weather radar picture to over 2950 users on WACNET. This was done entirely from the existing resources without any expenditure. He also conceived, designed and led the team that produced the Radar Data Extraction and Display Software without any expenditure of Public funds. This software enables extraction of radar data and its display at remote locations. Cost of such software and its implementation in the commercial market is millions of dollars. The software also permits remote Simulated Intercepts thus avoiding large expenditure on frequent temporary duties of Fighter Controllers. The officer also designed and developed a large area smoke generator, using components of obsolete systems, that performs as well as the foreign make smoke generators costing Rs 5.65 Crores. He was instrumental in developing a GPS Jammer noise source that can be used to jam hostile missiles using GPS.

Radar at the SU has shown significantly improved availability by reviewing the maintenance schedule under his leadership. Radar maintenance and quality control software developed by him enables fine tuning of the radar parameters. He has also brought about a sea change in the Station Administration.

For his distinguished service of high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Group Captain Shirish Baban Deo VM.