Wing Commander Kumbhapati Venugopala Krishna Sastry was commissioned in the IAF in Jun 63. He is a qualified Fighter Controller with the highest category rating. Having served in various operational Radar Signals units, he has attained very high proficiency in his profession.

For his Air Defence background and professional excellence, he was specially selected and posted to the Programming and Simulation Centre, Bombay, on its inception in 1974, to work with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for the development of the Automatic Data Handling System. TIFR is the agency responsible for development of the ADHS project and was handicapped due to lack of adequate software experts with the requisite Air Defence background and skill. Wg Cdr Sastry took up this challenge and, on his own, acquired the intricate knowledge of real time software by studying the limited technical literature available in the world on the subject. With this newly acquired knowledge and the Air Defence background, he made a significant contribution to the development of the operational software package for the Automatic Data Handling System. The radar tracking software, the heart of the ADHS software, developed personally by Wg Cdr Sastry, is comparable to such software available anywhere in the world.

On his promotion to the rank of Wg Cdr in 1981 the officer was assigned the command of the Programming and Simulation Centre. By dint of his professional expertise, personal example of intelligence and dedicated hard work, at the expense of personal comforts, Wg Cdr Sastry built up a very efficient software team.

For his initiative, dedication, unique achievement and pioneering efforts in the field of the Automatic Data Handling System, the President is pleased to grant Vishisht Seva Medal to Wing Commander Kumbhapati Venugopala Krishna Sastry.