Group Captain Muniyappa Suryanarayan Ravindra (14139) Aeronautical Engineering (Electronics) was commissioned in the Engineering Branch of the 1AF on 07 Jul 1975. In 29 years of distinguished service, he has held several important appointments of Chief Engineering Officer of AFA, Deputy Director Operations (EW-T) at Air HQ, Senior Engineer (Electronics) of a fighter base, Chief Software Engineer at Software Development Institute (SDI), Member Core Team DIPAC and Senior Calibration Officer of a Base Repair Depot. He is a graduate of the National Defence College.

During his tenure as Dy Dir Ops (EW-T), he evolved the Qualitative Requirements for Electronic Warfare equipment for all the aircraft on the inventory of IAF. He also evaluated the Self Protection Jammer for MiG-21 Bis upgrade and Jaguar aircraft and the Aerostat in Israel. At SDI, Gp Capt Ravindra was instrumental in successful development of EW mission planning system for Mirage 2000. He contributed in successful commissioning of OP CENTRE at Air HQ, Elta Radar Integration with maritime Jaguar & Nav mission planning system for Jaguar & Mirage -2000.

As Senior Engineer (Electronics) at Air Force Station Tezpur, he maintained excellent serviceability of Navigational Aids, SRE, PAR, AF lighting & Landline communication. He was tasked by HQ EAC to repair the SRE at Baghdogra without assistance from the manufacturer, resulting in tremendous savings to exchequer. In DIPAC he participated in the design and development of several electronic equipment for the Data Acquisition chain of Remote Sensing Earth Stations.

Through professionalism and dedication he has changed the work culture in the entire maintenance organization at AFA and created centers of excellence. He sustained for high serviceability Kiran and HPT-32 fleet which resulted in smooth conduct of annual flying training task for Kiran and for HPT-32. Similarly, serviceability of Radio & Nav aids & Land Line Communication, has been maintained very high. He was responsible for replacement of 902 ATSRU antenna, which was operating at reduced RPM for almost four years. It involved identification of the antenna at HAL (Hyderabad), calibration at BE Ghaziabad and tasking of RCDU, Faridabad and MOD financial sanction that culminated in restoring the Radar to its rated operational capability. He guided the unit technicians in carrying out extensive repairs on the DG sets, shifting of DG set from Radar Display site to Radar Head thereby saving huge financial resources. His innovative quality of finding intelligent solutions, selecting carefully weighed options and providing quality output are evident in every task that is executed including the creation of collages for the parade backdrop.

For his professional competence, dedication and devotion to service and distinguished service of high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Group Captain Muniyappa Suryanarayan Ravindra,