Group Captain Kuldeep Raj Lamba was commissioned in Jun 60 and has held important appointments at various levels. After a long tenure at Air Headquarters, in Oct 84, he was posted to a frontline fighter station as a Chief Engineering Officer.

He took over his duties at a time when the Station aircraft maintenance organization was facing a variety of problems. This resulted in the monthly flying effort of the two locally based Vijay Squadrons being restricted to roughly half the desirable figure. Some of the problems were inadequately trained and experienced technical manpower, shortage of test and ground support equipment and a restricted spares supply line. These problems and others had led to a daunting backlog of 200 hrs inspections at the base Central Repair Servicing Section.

Group Captain Lamba willingly accepted the challenge and set about clearing the backlog of inspections without delay. As a result of his tireless efforts, the locally based fighter squadrons have been able to complete their assigned flying tasks from March 86 onwards without a break.

Group Captain Kuldeep Raj Lamba efforts and achievements have contributed significantly to the restoration of the fighter aircraft fleet based at the Wing to its rightful position of a premier element of the strike force under Western Air Command. In the process, he has made a commendable contribution to the enhancement to the operational preparedness of the base and of the Air Force as a whole.

For his devotion to duty, his technical excellence and his leadership of the Station technical organization, the President is pleased to award Vishisht Seva Medal to Group Captain Kuldeep Raj Lamba.

Air Commodore Kuldip Raj Lamba was commissioned in the IAF on the 1st June, 1961. He has since then held with distinction various assignments at Fighter Squadrons, Operational Wings, Base Repair Depots and Air Headquarters.

As Joint Director of Engineering (Jaguar) at Air HQrs, the Air Officer was mainly responsible for the smooth reﾃつｭequipment of additional Jaguar Squadrons. His review of old indents led to cancellation of a large number of orders for obsolete items and saved crores of rupees in FFE. His reﾃつｭexamination of the invoices received from BAe revealed many cases of premium having being paid although the firm had not met its contractual obligation of making supplies against indents within the stipulated period. Recovery of these excess payments saved lakhs of rupees in FFE.

As Air Officer Commanding of one of our prestigious Base Repair Depots during 1988-90, his effective leadership and close monitoring of production activities not only reduced the per unit cost of production but also raised the output to far exceed the planned targets. Another noteworthy achievement during this period was the change of task of this Depot, from Kiran overhaul to AVRO Check II. This demanded transfer of spares numbering 1300014000 lines while simultaneously avoiding disruption in AVRO production. As Director of Engineering 'A' at Air HQrs, the Air Officer is responsible for the maintenance management of all combat fleets of Soviet origin. He took over these duties at a very crucial juncture. While new Sqns were being reﾃつｭequipped with the air superiority fighters and strike aircraft, product support had become inadequate and uncertain due to upheavals in the Soviet Union. He has ensured smooth reﾃつｭequipment of these Squadrons, at the same time, systematic review of existing spares backing viz, immediate and future requirements has resulted in high fleet serviceability to meet operational commitments.

There was total absence of repair facilities for aggregates of MiG-27 and MiG-29 fleets when he took over as D Eng 'A'. While MiG-27 repair facilities would be set up by HAL in 1993-94 only, for MiG-29 these are not available even in the Soviet Union. He scrutinised the existing repair facilities of BRDs and adopted these for a large number of aggregates of MiG-27 and MiG-29. Soviets were also persuaded to depute specialists to India for field repair of critical items of MiGﾃつｭ29 aircraft. This has ensured adequate and uninterrupted supply of the required aggregates and enhanced the operational preparedness of the Air Force considerably.

Air Commodore Kuldip Raj Lamba, VSM has, thus rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.