Air Marshal Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyaya was commissioned in the IAF on 1st September, 1956. Throughout his long career he has held with distinction a variety of appointments at Squadrons, Wings, Base Repair Depots, Command and Air Headquarters. A special mention must be made of his work as Member­Secretary of the Specialist Committee on Chetak/Cheetah helicopters.

During his tenure as Chief Engineering Officer, HQ SWAC, a Sprinkler System for stabilizing sand was successfully developed. The same has since been standardized and is being manufactured.

While undergoing the National Defence College course in 1987, the Air Officer's two articles on Defence/Economic matters got published in 'Yojna' the Planning Commission journal. As Senior Maintenance Staff Officer, CAC, he worked most effectively to ensure high serviceability of the combat, transport and helicopter fleets and ADGES systems. During his tenure as the ACAS (Eng 'A'), serviceability and availability of the Soviet origin combat, transport and helicopter fleets increased significantly. The Air Officer has been appointed as Air Officer Incharge Maintenance, Air Headquarters.

Air Marshal Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyaya has thus rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Vice Marshal Subramaniam Ratnam was commissioned in the IAF on the 1st June, 1960 in the Education Branch. He is a graduate of the College of Defence Management and was commended by the Chief of the Air Staff in 1974 for his significant contribution in streamlining the airmen promotion procedure and record keeping.

During his tenure as the Directing Staff (Junior Commander Course) at Air Force Admin College, he recast the syllabus and training notes in Management and gave a new orientation and thrust to the studies in Management. As Junior Directing Staff at the National Defence College during the period May 1981 to December 1984, he worked tirelessly and reorganised, refurnished and upgraded the Library which is a major hub of activities at the College.

On promotion to the rank of Group Captain, he was posted to South Western Air Command as the Command Education Officer in December 1984. During his two years of stay there, he identified the weaknesses in the schooling system and initiated works programme for construction of school buildings in several stations. He was then promoted to the rank of Air Commodore and posted as the Joint Director (Education) at Air HQ in November 1986. As the ex-officio Chairman of the Managing Committee of the three Air Force Public Schools at Delhi, he initiated a number of works programmes which brought about a substantial addition to the infrastructure, thus, creating additional facilities, for both the curricular and the extra curricular activities. He chaired a committee which went into the entire establishment and finance structure of the schools and formulated standard norms. He instituted procedures designed to bring about a coordinated functioning of the three schools. Through effective liaison with the Ministry of Human Resource Development and agencies like CBSE and KVS, he has been able to help both the unit schools and KVS at Air Force Stations tide over many problems connected with affiliations, sanction for additional classes and posting of teachers.

As the Director of Education since January 1990, he has given a new push to the implementation of the official language policy through intimate interaction with the concerned agencies of the Govt. He has taken on hand the implementation of a new scheme of Airmen Trade Tests and computerisation of all operations and records at the Air Headquarters Library.

As the Project Coordinator of the Air Force Golden Jubilee Auditorium since August 1989, he spared no efforts in getting the project completed inspite of manifold difficulties.

Air Vice Marshal Subramaniam Ratnam has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Vice Marshal Vishnu Murti Raina was commissioned in fighter stream of IAF on 29 May 57. Since then he has held some most important and prestigious operational and administrative appointments in the IAF with distinction.

He is currently holding the appointments of Air 1 at HQ Western Air Command. On taking over his present assignment in Jan 88, he was immediately involved in a major intercommand exercise. The successful culminating of the exercise was largely due to his initiative, resourcefulness and hard work put in by Air Vice Marshal Raina. Variety of aircraft, terrain, operating conditions and the weapon systems in WAC demand high level of professional knowledge, managerial skill, application and decision making ability. Air Cmde VM Raina displayed all these qualities in ample measures. In Oct 88, Western Air Command was tasked to conduct an Air Power Display at Tilpat Range in Feb/Mar 89. The entire task of planning and execution of this prestigious event was handled by Air Vice Marshal Raina. Air Vice Marshal Raina generated considerable enthusiasm amongst the aircrew and the staff to give off their best. His thoughtful handling of those under him resulted in building up of a well integrated team of officers in HQ Western Air Command working towards successful completion of this precisely controlled and well executed demonstration.

Air Vice Marshal Vishnu Murti Raina has, thus, rendered distinguished service of exceptional order.

Air Commodore Sharadkumar Ramakrishna Deshpande was commissioned in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on the 29th May, 1959. Since then, he has held many important and prestigious operational and administrative appointments and has throughout acquitted himself in an exemplary manner.

On the 4th November, 1988, he took over Command of an Air Force Station which is vital to the defence of the nation's capital. Soon thereafter, he was involved in the intense preparations for Air Power Demonstration which was held on the 18th March, 1989 at Tilpat firing range. His station played a vital role in the conduct of this widely acclaimed event. Air Cmde Deshpande displayed very high quality of management skill, hard work and indefatigable spirit in meeting this additional task besides his normal operational and administrative responsibilities.

During 1989-90, a fighter squadron was reequipped with MiG-27 aircraft and was located at his Station. In spite of numerous teething problems, the squadron has achieved fully operational status under his watchful eye, leadership and guidance within a short period.

Air Commodore Sharadkumar Ramakrishna Deshpande, VM has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Commodore Trevor Raymond Joseph Osman has been commanding a key fighter base since the 12th January, 1989. Under his command, the base has maintained a very high status in the areas of operations, maintenance and administration. This has been achieved due to the officer's deep personal involvement and qualities of leadership. He has been able to motivate his men to produce outstanding results which are reflected in the performance of the Wing.

In the field of operations, his unrelenting efforts, leadership from the front, comprehensive professional knowledge and ability to build an effective team have enabled him AVSM 1991 to keep the performance of the base at a very high level. His stress on increased mutual interaction between operational squadrons and a tactics development agency has resulted in smooth absorption of new concepts based on better understanding of the changing operational scenario.

In the field of maintenance, Air Cmde Osman has insisted on the highest standards of technical practices and encouraged independent thinking oriented towards innovation. Under his guidance and encouragement, the maintenance personnel have designed and put up several significant modifications to enhance the operational capability of aircraft and weapon systems, and that too at a negligible cost.

In the field of administration, as a result of careful planning and optimal use of existing resources, he was able to achieve marked efficiency in the execution of works services. On the welfare front, he introduced a number of activities which positively contributed to the maintenance of morale of all personnel and their families at a very high level.

Air Commodore Trevor Raymond Joseph Osman has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Commodore Ranjeet Kumar Malhotra was commissioned in the Air Force in May 1962. Apart from having held 'A' category and Master Green Instrument Rating on a variety of aircraft, he is among the extremely few Air Force Officers who have achieved 'A­1' QFI category. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College.

He is commanding an Air Force Station since February, 1988. He has brought about a high degree of cohesion, purposefulness and quest for excellence amongst the personnel of his station. He tackles all assigned tasks with a positive outlook, well-defined objectives, meticulous planning and flawless execution. As a result of his deep personal involvement and leadership, there has been a significant improvement in the quality of flying training while phenomenal gains have been made in maintenance, administration and welfare activities. His station was adjudged best in the Command in aircraft maintenance and in the cleanliness/beautification of domestic campus. In addition, his station performed most creditably in Mechanical Transport (MT) maintenance, flight safety, upkeep of libraries and management of messes. Additionally, his station has been awarded Air Headquarters Flight Safety Trophy for single engine trainer group during 1989-90.

Air Commodore Ranjeet Kumar Malhotra has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Commodore Shallindra Singh Kaushik was commissioned in November, 1962 in the Flying (Pilot) Branch in fighter stream. In 1975, he joined the transport stream and up till now has to his credit nearly 1500 hours of air transport missions involving supply drop in the Eastern Sector. While he was the Flight Commander in a Transport Squadron, the Squadron was the recipient of the Flight Safety Trophy for two consecutive years. From 1979 to 1982, he was in command of a SAM III Squadron. The Squadron was non operational when he assumed command and was nursed to operational status by him.

During his tenure as Joint Director of Guided Weapons in the Directorate of Air Staff Inspection, the officer single-handedly introduced and formalized On-the-Job Training (OJT) and Continuity Training syllabi for the use by the crew of Pechora Squadron. He suggested the revamping of flying branch officers in Guided Weapon force to have practical distribution of selected and non­select officers in the stream. His paper titled “Protection for Pechora Combat Flights" dealt with blast protection for Pechora Squadrons which has been accepted as a norm. To include the competitive spirit amongst Pechora Combat Crew, he mooted the idea of “Missile Proficiency badge" for GW operational crew. This suggestion has been accepted. On promotion, the officer was posted as Air Officer Commanding of an Air Force Station. In his short stay of 14 months, he ensured that the performance of non­operational SAM III Squadron was brought up to the level of the operational standards demanded from it. With a single­minded dedication and devotion to duty, the officer has made value contributions in improving and streamlining the operational training of Pechora Squadrons. His indepth knowledge of the systems involved coupled with his capacity to mould the varied experience into practical and viable alternative has been instrumental in laying the foundations of organized tainting in enhancement of operational potential of the SAGW stream.

Air Commodore Shallindra Singh Kaushik has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Air Commodore Teshter Jall Master was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in March 1963. He has held important field and staff appointments apart from taking active part in the 1965 and 1971 operations. In August 1986, he was appointed as the Command Air Defence Officer, HQ WAC. During this tenure, he successfully implemented the Limited Area Defence concept from within the existing resources of WAC. This has now been generally adopted in the IAF and has greatly enhanced our air defence potential. During the operational alert in early 1987, the officer was singularly involved in the deployment and the activation of air defence Elements and handling of all operational contingencies arising thereof with speed and efficiency.

In his present appointment as the Director of Electronic Warfare at the Air HQ, the officer has once again displayed his zeal and ingenuity in giving impetus to all EW activities in the Air Force. He has been responsible for planning and optimising EW inductions, training and electronic intelligence gathering activities. By ensuring that an indigenous ECM equipment was proven and declared operational in a short time, he saw to it that our operational capabilities as well as our indigenous R&D programme received a major boost. A noteworthy achievement of the officer has been to establish an Electronic Warfare Computer Centre which processes the entire Elint data collected by the AF and those received from other agencies. It was under his guidance that tasking and data flow from the ARC were streamlined. Finally, it is due to the officer's initiative that efforts to enhance our EW training as well as to bring about greater awareness of EW in the IAF are now bearing fruit.

Air Commodore Teshter Jail Master has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Group Captain Jaswant Singh Kumar has been posted as the Director of Mechanical Transport since the 10th December, 1986. He has brought about a conceptual change in MT Management of the Indian Air Force. He initiated phasing out of over­powered vehicles with high fuel consumption which, apart from being more expensive, were found unreliable by the field formations. Induction of fuel efficient vehicles like Maruti Gypsy, Allwyn Nissan and Swaraj Mazda, not only boosted the ground mobility of operational units but also resulted in appreciable fuel economy and improved serviceability­cum­reliability. The petrol consumption at most of the major Stations dropped by 10-15% after phased induction of these vehicles. Savings to the tune of Rs. 3 to 5 crore per year would accrue with the completion of induction programme of fuel efficient vehicles to replace over-powered vehicle fleet. The revised Maintenance System conceived by him envisaged utilisation of authorised civil servicing and maintenance facilities to the optimum so that vehicles were properly serviced/repaired and also spares inventory kept to optimum level. This has directly contributed to the operational preparedness of units like MOFs, Flying Stations and Mobile Radar Units. The officer reorganised the MT vehicles induction and spares distribution system to provide a high degree of assurance in spares to all the units.

He closely monitored and analysed the MT accident rate and issued various instructions to the units on vital importance of defensive driving. During the last three years, constant downward trend has been achieved in respect of MT accident rate.

Group Captain Jaswant Singh Kumar, VSM has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Group Captain Ajit Bhavnani has been in command of Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment since the 1st February, 1989. He was instrumental in bringing about major changes in the training curriculum of TACDE. The FCL course which had remained unchanged since its inception in 1973, was divided into specific streams for Fighter Combat Loaders and Fighter Strike Loaders. With the fast changing air environment and with the induction of sophisticated role dedicated combat aircraft, the IAF needed to channelise its combat training towards specialist role orientation. Additionally, for the very first time in the IAF, courses for fighter controllers were introduced. This significant increase in the content and versatility of training task at TACDE necessitated major changes in the training programme and syllabi. With minimal additional resources, these changes were successfully brought about in a highly professional and disciplined manner, under the able guidance and direction of Group Captain Ajit Bhavnani.

The officer has further initiated a series of innovative and urgent steps to redefine functioning of TACDE at appropriate levels. As a result of these steps, TACDE has been involved at various levels of lAF's operational functioning. At the field level, his team has interacted regularly with combat pilots and controllers, visiting all fighter bases and disseminating latest tactics, techniques and procedures which have recently been developed by TACDE. Greater emphasis on development tasks has been a hallmark of TACDE's recent achievements. At the planning level, they have been involved in providing guidelines for the operational plans at the Command Headquarters and at important forums.

Group Captain Ajit Bhavnani, VM has, thus, rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.