Air Marshal Jagdish Raj Bhasin, AVSM, VM (3591) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in July, 1949. During his long service career, he has held a variety of Command and Staff appointments with distinction at various levels including policy making levels. In the varied posts held by him, he has distinguished himself not only by professional competence but also by outstanding administrative ability.

His command appointments include the command of two front line fighter Squadrons, where he accomplished high rate of aircraft serviceability, enhanced operational preparedness and all round efficiency.

As Air Officer Commanding of a major operational base Air Marshal Bhasin, within a very short time, was able to integrate his command of multi Squadron force into an efficient team achieving lowest ever aircraft accident rate, while maintaining a high serviceability and utilisation rate. In addition to heavy air maintenance tasks, his base was also called upon to undertake relief operations after the devastating earthquake in Himachal Pradesh in January/February 1975 and during floods in August, 1975. The air efforts in both these relief operations had won high acclaim and enhanced the prestige of the Air Force. This was possible because of the excellent planning and leadership displayed by Air Marshal Bhasin.

In recent years, this officer, has held with distinction the important appointments of Director of Offensive Ops at Air Headquarters in the rank of Air Commodore and the appointment of Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ Eastern Air Command in the rank of Air Vice Marshal.

In his present appointment as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Air Command, he has displayed exceptional qualities of leadership and planning. By his dedicated and dynamic approach he has ensured a very high state of operational preparedness within his command, inspite of serious difficulties in the form of fuel and power shortages and diminishing spares backing for ageing aircraft. Through his close monitoring of ground maintenance, flying and allied activities, Air Marshal Bhasin has been instrumental in building up an operational infrastructure of an exceptional order.

Air Marshal Jagdish Raj Bhasin has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Kodendera Cariappa Cariappa, VM was commissioned as a fighter pilot on 29 May 1957. As a young pilot, he qualified as a flying instructor. While on an instructional tenure he was attached to a fighter squadron to participate in the 1965 operations. He was shot down on an operational mission and taken prisoner of war. Released with injuries in a POW exchange after the war, he converted onto helicopters before being selected by the then CAS to be his ADC. Thereafter, he commanded a helicopter squadron before and during the 1971 war. For his performance in command of the squadron, he was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in January 1973. After regaining his medical category, he reverted to the fighter stream and also commanded a fighter squadron. An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), he served as directing staff of the College of Air Warfare. He successfully commanded a fighter base and was selected by the CAS to be his Air Assistant. Thereafter, he was specially selected to undergo the course at prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies in England. On return to India he was appointed Air Officer Commanding of Air Force Station Gwalior.

On promotion to Air Vice Marshal, he was appointed as Chief Instructor (Air) at DSSC. Later he was the Air Officer Commanding, Advance Headquarters, Western Air Command, where he contributed significantly to the overall operational plans.

On promotion to the rank of Air Marshal, he successfully held the appointment of Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of Eastern Air Command (EAC). Inspite of disturbed insurgency conditions, he provided a fresh impetus into the operational plans and their modes of implementation. The Air Officer presently holds the vital appointment of Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of South Western Air Command. In this appointment, he brings to bear his vast operational and staff experience to maintain this command in peak operational readiness.

Air Marshal Kodendera Cariappa Cariappa, VM has thus rendered distinguished service of most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Satish Kumar Jain AVSM VM (9716) F(P) was commissioned in the Indian Air Force in October 1965 in the fighter stream. During his distinguished service of 39 years, he has held many challenging flying and staff assignments, which include command of a fighter Sqn and two front line fighter bases, head of Air Faculty at the DSSC, Director Air Defence, ACAS (Op Concepts & Doctrine) at Air HQ, AOC J&K and the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO), HQ Training Command. He has flown over 4200 hours on 25 different types of aircraft. He is a QFI Cat A2 and a Production Test Pilot. He was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal in 1987 and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 1998. Presently he is AOC-in-C South Western Air Command since July 2004.

As Director Operations (Air Defence), Air Marshal Jain conceptualized and formulated the futuristic op requirements of modernisation of the country's air defence systems. Their implementation will have a far-reaching effect in enhancing the effectiveness of our air defence. He was also actively involved in planning and support for Op Safed Sagar, which entailed rapid deployment, adjustment and support to Air Defence forces. As the Air Officer Commanding J&K, he successfully accomplished all air logistics and fighter/ combat operations from the six airfields and numerous wheelbases in the J&K and Siachen sector. During the summer of 2000 he overcame a serious logistics crisis at the base camp due to flood-related destruction of bridges with astute employment of his limited airlift resources. The combat capability of his fleet was improved significantly through systematic training, coordination and trials in difficult terrain.

As the ACAS (Operational Concepts & Doctrine) Air Marshal Jain contributed significantly to increase international coop-eration with many countries. As the leader of the Indian Military Delegation to Tajikistan, he saved the exchequer many crores by convincing the Govt of Tajikistan to supply unused Pechora missile spares free of cost thus giving a muchneeded relief to the Pechora squadrons. His dedicated efforts led to the successful conduct of Executive Steering Group meetings with the USAF, which led to unprecedented level of IAF-USAF joint exercises. He was the nodal coordinator at Air HQ for evolution and implementation of joint staff structures pursuant to the recommendations of Group of Ministers to revamp the national security system. He drew up the road map for induction of simulators in the IAF. As SASO, HQ Training Command, Air Marshal Jain initiated concrete steps to upgrade the skills and categories of instructors and controllers, which has resulted in upgradation in large numbers. He ensured significant improvements and growth in networking and computer aided learning at all training units,

Air Marshal SK Jain has thus rendered distinguished service of most exceptional order.

Air Marshal Pramod Kumar Mehra AVSM VM (11581) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the IAF as a fighter pilot in the Flying branch on 18 May 1968. He has held various important appointments which include Commandant of Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Director Air Staff Requirements (DASR) at Air HQ, Air Officer Commanding of Air Force Station, Hasimara, Air Defence Commander (AD Cdr) of South Western Sector, Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) [ACAS {Int}] at Air HQ, and Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at HQ Central Air Command (CAC). He took over as Air Officer Commanding-inChief of the prestigious South Western Air Command at Gandhinagar on 01 March 06. For his distinguished services, he has been awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2005 and Vayu Sena Medal in 1989. The Air Officer took part in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 and is one of the most experienced test pilots in the IAF today. He has successfully supervised many projects in various capacities at ASTE, thus contributing immensely towards improving the operational potential of the IAF. As DASR at Air HQ, he most creditably performed the job of laying down air staff requirements for acquisition of various assets by the IAF, He was member of the Price Negotiation Committees (PNC) for the Advanced Jet Trainer (Hawk) and proved his acumen as an able negotiator during these negotiations. As AD Cdr, he was responsible for the Air Defence of the South Western Sector during Op Parakram and performed his role exceedingly well with limited resources and constraints of ageing equipment. He was ACAS (Int) at Air HQ at a time when the International defence cooperation between the IAF and friendly foreign countries was on a major upswing. His efforts were contributory towards successful conduct of bilateral visits with the other Air Forces including visits by the Chiefs of Air Staff. He also provided necessary support to the nascent Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) from Air HQ, especially towards implementation of recommendations of Group of Ministers (GoM) post Kargil War. As SASO, HQ CAC, he was responsible for all the operational activities of the most well endowed Command of the IAF which has almost all types of aircraft and equipment in Air Force inventory. During this tenure he was instrumental in increasing the operational potential by introducing a series of Intra Command exercises, greater stress on enhanced training and standardizing new concepts in operations like Aerial Refueling and Combat Search & Rescue. His tenure saw meticulous planning & successful conduct of International Air Force exercises in which Squadrons based in CAC participated in joint exercises between 1AF and foreign countries like US, Singapore, South Africa, and France. These exercises earned IAF a place of pride due to its professionalism and propelled it towards being recognized as a global force with strategic reach.

As AOC-in-C SWAC, he has given a fresh impetus to the Command in its surge forward by his focused vision and a clear foresight. Successful conduct of Air Force Exercise, Gagan Shakti recently has refined the operational readiness of the IAF and has once again shown the able leadership provided by Air Marshal Mehra from SWAC. Many new concepts and systems were tried and validated during this exercise. Be it in the field of Information Technology or the infrastructure development in the Stations, SWAC is making big strides under his stewardship. The area of responsibility of SWAC recently saw unprecedented rains and floods which caused widespread damage and loss of life in these States. Rescue and relief operations launched under his guidance were prompt and well coordinated despite limited resources when compared to the magnitude of devastation. The timely succour provided by the Air Force was widely appreciated by the State Govts and was a result of his innovative idea of providing training to the district officials by air force personnel before the onset of monsoon.

Air Marshal Pramod Kumar Mehra AVSM VM has thus rendered distinguished service of most exceptional order.