Squadron Leader Sivaramakrishan Chandramouli has been serving with the Aircraft and System Testing Establishment as a Senior Test Instrumentation Engineer since January, 1972. Soon after his joining, the Unit was reorganised and its flight test commitments increased tremendously. Squadron Leader Chandramouli had no formal training as a test instrumentation engineer. By dint of hard work and deep study, he not only trained himself, but, in a short time, attained an exceptional level of proficiency in this highly specialised field. As more sophisticated aircraft and equipment were offered for trials, each task became a challenge as it posed its own special requirements of measuring

techniques and instrumentation. He successfully carried out these tasks by improvising and developing new techniques and working tirelessly totally unmindful of personal discomfort. He has done pioneering work in developing a technique to measure the effects of aerodynamic, inertial and firing loads on the suspension system of aircraft, with extremely limited resources. This enabled the carriage envelope of new stores to be fixed more accurately than hitherto. He has also carried out photographic modifications on a large number of aircraft which have been very successful in assessing release characteristics and trajectories of many new airborne stores. He is also responsible for electrical inter­phasing of new systems to the trial aircraft and many electrical modifications for the flight trials. He single handedly tackled many other tasks and was able successfully to fulfill all requirements in a short time and at a small expenditure.

Squadron Leader Chandramouli has also been directly responsible for instrumenting aircraft of the Test Pilot School and for the successful conduct of various test exercises by student officers. With his ingenuity, he has evolved a number of simple and highly successful techniques for evaluation of new electrical instruments and photo systems which have considerably improved the operational efficiency of the Air Force and performance of work in the Research and Development in the country.

Squadron Leader Sivaramakrishan Chandramouli has thus rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.