Group Caption RR Bhardwaj was commissioned on 01 Jan 73 in the Engineering Branch. After a three year tenure as Senior Engineer (Aircraft) at Air Force Station, Adampur, the officer was posted to Air Headquarters in Feb 93 and is presently working as Joint Director Engineering in MiG-29 aircraft weapon cell. An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College the officer was directly associated with the induction of MiG-29 aircraft.

Indigenous facility for overhaul of MiG29 was required to be established on a very high priority. He studied the Detailed Project Report, analysed the problems and initiated time bound corrective measures. As a result, a large quantity of equipment to be imported was substituted with indigenous manufacture or fabrication and the delivery schedule of remaining equipment and technical publication was reduced from three years to two years. Due to his dedicated efforts, the aircraft overhaul has already commenced.

The Officer was also instrumental in initiating the indigenous development of Calendar based TBO (Time Between Overhaul) extension technology which has been successfully developed. This resulted in saving of large sum in FE. The MiG-29 weapon cell at Air Hq effectively caters for both first and second line maintenance requirements of operating units and meets the stringent requirements of the time bound overhaul project, now moving as per the schedule.

For distinguished services of a high order, the President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Gp Capt RR Bhardwaj.

Air Commodore Ram Rattan Bhardwaj, VSM (13337) AE (M) was commissioned in Engineering Branch of the IAF. He has held several field and staff appointments and has been associated with induction of three types of aircraft into the IAF. He was commended by the CAS in 1979 during MiG-21 BIS induction and was awarded VSM for successful setting up of MiG-29 overhaul facilities under most trying conditions. Presently, he is the Commanding Officer of a Base Repair Depot (BRD) dealing with MiG-23 and MiG29 since 23 Sep 02.

As Chief Engineering Officer of a fighter base he ensured large number of improvements during Su-30 induction, through total involvement and through professionalism and also recovered more than ten MiG-29 aircraft lying on ground for prolonged periods. As Commanding Officer of a BRD, he brought in visible improvements in work culture and quality of output, stepped up production and gave focused approach to indigenization.

At the time of commencement of Op Parakarm, only two aircraft had been ferried out by the BRD against a task of 20 aircraft. He analyzed the situation, regrouped his team and motivated them to accept the challenge. As a result, for the first time in the history of IAF all 20 aircraft under task were ferried out to field units by 31 Mar 2003. The numbers of Aircraft on Ground were brought down to 48 for MiG-29 and 77 for MiG-23. This has been possible due to various innovative means like, redesigning, reclamation, modification and focused approach to indigenization. This has also resulted in saving of crores of Rupees in foreign exchange and improved availability of aircraft in field units. During the period he has also improved the effectiveness and efficiency of the BRD by bringing administration to the doorstep and vastly improved logistics management.

Air Commodore Ram Rattan Bhardwaj, VSM has thus rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order.