Air Marshal Pran Nath Bajaj AVSM (6392) AE (M) was commissioned on 01 Dec 1961 in the Engineering Branch of the IAF. In a career spanning 38 years, the officer has served with distinction at various operational units, Base Repair Depots and in DRDO. He served as Senior Maintenance Staff Officer (SMSO) at HQ Western Air Command and HQ Maintenance Command and as ACAS Eng B at Air HQs. During the years 1990-91he commanded the Air Force Technical College and Air Force Station Jalahalli, one of the largest station in the IAF. In 1970-71, he completed his post graduation studies from Indian Institute of Science with highest possible grades. He is the alumnus of National Defence College and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

He did pioneering work at Base Repair Depots in the field of Operation Research relating to problem of production lines, resulting in smooth flow of output and enhanced product ion. As SMSO of Western Air Command he reworked in the War Maintenance plans and instructions to make them more responsive to the needs of the Operation plan. For these efforts and other achievements in the filed of aircraft serviceability and availability, institution of a large number of maintenance safety measures and efficient logistics management, he was awarded the Ati Vishist Seva Medal in the year 1996.

As SMSO Maintenance Command during the years 1995-97, his scientific approach to production planning and effective organizational skills were mainly responsible for BRDs to meeting their enhanced task without additional manpower resources. He effectively supervised the various studies on calendar life extension of various aircraft, which resulted in extending their operational 1ife.

Presently as Director General, Radar & Communications project Office, he has introduced many conceptual level organisational and procedural changes to ensure effective project Management. A mechanism for effective interaction with the user, suppliers and other related agencies has also been put in place. These have led to better achievement of project objectives within the constraints of resources and, time frames.

Air Marshal Pran Nath Bajaj AVSM has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Sahab Prasad Varma VSM PHS (6466) Medical was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in Jan 1962. During a chequered career spanning over three decades, he specialised in Internal Medicine, underwent super-specialty training in Cardiology and was awarded post-doctoral degree of DM (Cardiology) in 1983. He was the Chief architect in establishing Cardiac Evaluation Centre at AF Central Medical Establishment in Sep 89. He was also selected to command the prestigious Air Force Command Hospital at Bangalore.

The Air Officer was instrumental in raising and updating the Medical Categorisation Policy in 1988, enabling several aircrew to regain their flying category after cardiac event, balloon angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery. This achievement earned him the award of VSM in 1990 and a place in Limca Book of Records in 1993.

While serving as Principal Medical Officer at HQs Western Air Command he was appointed as the project incharge and chief co-coordinator for planning and establishing a Super Specialty Veterans Hospital at Subroto Park, New Delhi. The Hospital was functional in record time and was inaugurated on 08 Oct 96. The Hospital is of immense benefit to the ex-Servicemen who suffer from terminal diseases. Under his dynamic leadership and initiative, all facets of health underwent a qualitative change in the Indian Air Force.

His initiative on review of medical standards and waivers towards medical licensing of civil aircrew in India, have been well appreciated and given due recognition by Head of Medical Section, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), as these are at par with Joint Aviation requirements of USA, Canada, and European countries.

Air Marshal Sahab Prasad Varma VSM PHS has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar AVSM VM (6748) F (P) is one of the most exceptional test pilots in the IAF. In September 1994 when he was the Additional ACAS (Ops) at Air HQ, he was deputed to the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to oversee the flight testing of the Light Combat Aircraft. This deputation was arranged at the request of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, SA to RM and Director General, ADA. During the past five years the officer carried out seminal work in the areas of control law development for the fly by wire control system by extensive use of ground based and in flight simulators. The real time simulator was developed over a period of three years by continuous interaction between the control law engineers, simulation engineers and the flight test crew. The simulator is now as good as any simulation facility being used in any development program anywhere in the world. He has set up the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) at the HAL Bangalore to conduct the flight testing of the LCA. The two technology demonstrator aircraft have been heavily instrumented with state of the art instrumentation. A real time telemetry monitoring station has been set up under his guidance. The use of telemetry for flight safety monitoring of flight tests is a concept, which is being tried out in India for the first time. After systems integration the first set of ground runs of the General Electric F-404 engine were carried out by test pilots of NFTC under his control. Thereafter a set of low speed taxi trials were carried out to test the software of the brake management and nose wheel steering systems at the managerial level. Air Marshal Rajkumar has participated in several hundred-review meetings held to monitor progress of systems development. He has continued to maintain his flying proficiency by flying at ASTE when required. He has flown 5200 hrs on 55 types of aircraft.

Air Marshal P Rajkumar AVSM VM has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Thirunillayi Ramaswamy Janakiraman AVSM (7058) AE (M) has been the Senior Maintenance Staff Officer at HQ Maintenance Command from 16 Jun 97 to 23 May 99. Before coming to HQ MC, he was SMSO at HQ WAC and prior to that Dir Eng 'A' at Air HQ. For his outstanding contributions, he was awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in the year 1995.

During his tenure at HQ MC, Air Mshl TR Janakiraman restructured the organization of the SMSO's Branch and created two very vital cells from within the existing resources. One was for monitoring the outstanding AOGs by using the data banks of last line balances and indigenisation. He also formed a cell for provisioning and procurement of items of indigenous origin. By the formation of this cell, HQ MC was able to procure spares required in matter of few months, which earlier used to take much longer. By this measure, stocking period was also reduced, thus resulting in lower inventory carrying cost.

He was instrumental in imparting a great impetus to the indigenisation effort of HQ MC. Under his guidance, elaborate compendiums were prepared outlining our requirement of spares under various categories. The compendiums contained detailed information of all kind so that the indigenisation effort could be directed to most productive areas. Indigenisation data bank was expanded from 50,000 records to more than 170,000 records. With these measures, import of spares from abroad is bound to come down significantly, resulting in savings of crores of rupees besides achieving limited self-reliance.

Air Marshal Thirunillayi Ramaswamy Janakiraman AVSM has thus rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Marshal Satish Gobind Inamdar VSM was commissioned in the IAF as a fighter Pilot in Mar 63. He has flown over 3700 hours on a variety of fighter aircraft and took active part in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak conflicts. He has commanded a Fighter Squadron, a Fighter Wing and the prestigious Aircrew Examination Board. An MSc (Defence Studies) and an AMAeSI, he is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, the Pilot Attach Instructor School, Higher Air Command Course, Senior Defence Management Course (CDM) and the National Defence College. He has held various Air Staff Appointment at Air HQ and Operational Commands HQs. He was the Chief Instructor at Defence Services Staff College and Senior Air Staff Officer at: HQ CAC (1998-1999) before taking over his present appointment as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff.

He was chairman of the Pay Commission Cell, representing the Chiefs of Staff Committee on the fifth Central Pay Commission. As the chairman of the V CPC, he was responsible for formulating the norms, channelising and guiding the members for the first ever combined formulation of the three service proposals. It goes to his credit that an Armed Forces Joint Memorandum well researched and authentic document complete with full justification running into 600 pages was submitted to the V CPC in record time in Apr 95.

His vast experience and competence on the operational front became evident when he was SASO of an operational Command. During the Kargil crises his meticulous planning and guidance in respect of the use of right weapon system, especially Mirage aircraft and modified weapons, turned the tide of the battle and resulted in a comprehensive and convincing victory for the Indian Armed Forces.

Air Marshal Satish Gobind Inamdar VSM has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Sayed Shahid Hussain Naqvi AVSM VrC (7193) F (P) wan commissioned as a fighter pilot in Mar 63. In his long and distinguished career he had the unique distinction of commanding seven establishments. These include commands of 5 FBSU, 17 FBSU and Air Force elements in Sri Lanka under challenging circumstances. He also commanded 39 Wing and 16 Wing with distinction. He has served on the staff of Pilot Armament Instructors School for a period of five years and served on deputation with the Iraqi Air Fore as a Flying Instructor. He is also a graduate of Defence Service Staff College, Wellington and Air War College, USA.

Air Mshl Naqvi is a veteran of two wars. In the 1971 operation, he was awarded the Vir Chakra for his valour in the face of enemy in the western sector. He was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for excellence in the year 1992. During the Indian Peace Keeping Operation Srilanka, the Air Marshal, then a Gp Capt, was appointed the first Air Force Station Commander with the responsibility of planning and execution of all Air Operation of IAF elements at Jaffna, in support of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. The Air Marshal has held various staff appointments and has displayed remarkable clarity in thought in modifying the Electronic Warfare Philosophy of the IAF during his tenure as Director EW in Air HQ.

As Deputy Chief of Air Staff he shouldered the overall responsibility of long term planning including the Force Structure Planning of the Indian Air Force. Special emphasis was made towards laying down qualitative requirements for the acquisition of all future equipments namely aircraft systems, radars, weapons etc. and testing of such equipments for the future induction into the Air Force. His services to the Air Force in the field of perspective planning have gone a long way both in enhancing the operational preparedness and capability of the IAF. During the recent operation 'Safed Sagar', following strict time bound programmes, aircraft were suitably modified with state-ofthe-art systems and made available for the operations under his guidance.

The Air Marshal has been on the Board of Director of various Public Sector undertakings namely Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Dynamics Limited and Center for Airborne systems. He has been conferred fellowship of Aeronautical Society of India and holds the post of Senior Vice President of the Society.

Air Marshal Sayed Shahid Hussain Naqvi AVSM VrC has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.