Air Vice Marshal Abraham Mathews, Aeronautical Engineering (Electronics) was commissioned in the erstwhile Technical/ Signals branch in September, 1953. He has a total of 2200 active flying hours to his credit.

During March 1983 to June, 1985, he held the post of Air Officer Commanding of a major Maintenance base. His performance record and AOC of this large station, was excellent and during this period both the Base Repair Depots achieved 100% production.

He took over as Deputy Senior Maintenance Staff Officers of HQ MC in the rank of Air Vice Marshal. He was responsible for supervising functional aspects of all the aircraft, aero­engine and Electronic Base Repair Depots.

As a member of the 'La Fontain' Committee on Flight Safety, he has been instrumental in identifying the existing weaknesses in the training and development of technical personnel of the IAF and making valuable recommendations to overcome them.

Air Vice Marshal Abraham Mathews has, thus, rendered distinguished service order of an exceptional order.

Air Marshal Abraham Mathews was commissioned in the erstwhile Technical/ Signals branch of the IAF on the 7th September, 1953. During his long and distinguished career, he held a variety of command and staff appointments with distinction which included the command of a key Maintenance Base, Dy Senior Maintenance Staff Officer of an Air Force Command, Director Signal (Air) at Air HQ and finally the Director General of Radar and Communications Project Office, Ministry of Defence.

Although he belonged to a technical branch of the IAF, the Air Officer was one of the very few Engineering Officers who also became a fully qualified pilot. The Air Officer went on to log 2200 active flying hours to his credit. Not content with that he also became a qualified Air Signaller of repute. For his performance during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan conflict, he was awarded “Mentioned-in-Despatches".

Appointed Dy SMSO of the Maintenance Command in 1985, the Air Officer brought about remarkable improvement in the functional efficiency of the base Repair Depots of the IAF through innovative procedural changes and management techniques.

The wide-ranging experience of the Air Officer coupled with his methodical reasoning was brought to full advantage when he was selected to be a member of the high-powered La Fontaine Committee on Flight Safety. The Air Officer made invaluable contribution to the identification of the weaknesses in the training and development of the technical personnel of the IAF. Also, an optimum model of training, development and placement of IAF engineering officers and airmen was evolved under his guidance.

The Air Officer was appointed as the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Systems) in 1988. While holding this assignment, he introduced several measures to obtain greater operational readiness through more efficient use of resources.

The ultimate landmark in the career of the Air Officer was his appointment as the Director General of the vital Radar and Communication Project Office of the Ministry of Defence in the rank of Air Marshal. He provided the necessary vision and thrust in this capacity to rapidly upgrade the nation's air defence through completion of a large number of radar and communication projects in the given time frame.

Air Marshal Abraham Mathews, AVSM has, thus, rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.