Air Marshal Balakrishnan Manikantan,

AVSM Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime Di ...

, VM is an officer of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. He is currently serving as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Southern Air Command. He assumed the office on 1 May 2023 succeeding Air Marshal

Jonnalagedda Chalapati Air Marshal Jonnalagedda Chalapati, AVSM, VSM is a retired officer of the Indian Air Force. Currently, he served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Southern Air Command. He took over the office on 3 October 2021, succeeding of ...

Early life and education

Balakrishnan Manikantan, a native Thiruvarppu, a village in

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

. Born to a teacher couple, Balakrishna Pillai and P K Lakshmi Kutty Amma, Manikantan is an alumnus of Sanik School,

Kazhakootam Kazhakoottam is a major suburb in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state, India. The largest IT Park of the country in terms of developed area Technopark along with Technocity an upcoming integrated IT township is situated here. H ...

and

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces, where cadets of the three services i.e. the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force train together before they go on ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

. He holds a Post Graduate degree from

Defence Services Staff College The Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) is a defence service training institution of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. It trains officers of all three services of the Indian Armed Forces – ( Indian Military Service, Indian Nav ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

, Masters in Management Studies (MMS) from

College of Defence Management The College of Defence Management (CDM) is an Indian defence service training institution imparting management training to defence servants. CDM is entrusted with the responsibility of instilling contemporary management thoughts, concepts an ...

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South Central Railway ...

and M Phil from National Defence College,

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

Career

Balakrishnan Manikantan was commissioned as the helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force. In a career spanning over 37 years, he has as more than 5,400 hours of flying experience across various helicopters and fixed wing plane. He is a Helicopter combat leader and a Cat ‘A’ qualified flying instructor. He served as the commanding officer of No. 152 Helicopter Unit and has taken part in the Indian Air Force contingent at UN Mission in Congo. As

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

, he served as the station commander of

Allahabad Airport Allahabad Airport , officially known as Deendayal Upadhyay Airport, is a military airbase and public airport serving the city of Allahabad, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in Bamrauli Prayagraj, from Prayagraj city and ser ...

and later as Air Commodore, he served as the Air Officer Commanding of 21 Wing at AFS Leh in the Western sector. Under his command, the units won trophies for performance at the Command level. As

Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

, he served as the Senior Air & Administration Staff Officer,

Maintenance Command Maintenance Command is a command of the Indian Air Force. It was raised as Maintenance Group at Chakeri in Kanpur in 1950. In 1955, it was designated as Maintenance Command. Its current headquarters is located at Vayusena Nagar in Nagpur ( Mah ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

. Later, helped in setting up International Defence Cooperation at HQ-IDS and served as the Assistant Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (ACIDS) at

Integrated Defence Staff The Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) is an organisation responsible for fostering coordination and enabling prioritisation across the different branches of the Indian Armed Forces. It is composed of representatives from the Indian Army, Indian Navy ...

. He took part in the

Operation Pawan Operation Pawan ( hi, कार्यवाही पवन ''Kãryvãhi Pavan'', lit. "Operation Wind") was the code name assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of ...

, an operation against

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

Indian Peace Keeping Force Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lank ...

and

Operation Meghdoot Operation Meghdoot ( "Operation Cloud Messenger" after a famous Sanskrit poem by Kalidasa) was the codename for the Indian Armed Forces' operation to seize control of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir, precipitating the Siachen conflict. E ...

. After his promotion to Air Marshal in August 2022, he served as the Senior Air Staff Officer, Eastern Air Command till 30 April 2023. He took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command on 1 May 2023 from Air Marshal

Honours and decorations

During his career, Balakrishnan Manikantan has received the Commendation card by AOC-in-C, Training Command in 1988 and again by GOC-in-C, Northern Command in 2015. He has been awarded the

Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) is a military award of India given to recognize "distinguished service of an exceptional order" to all ranks of the armed forces. The award is a peacetime equivalent of Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal, which is a Wartime Di ...

in 2017 and

Vayu Sena Medal The Vayu Sena Medal is a military decoration, usually awarded in peacetime for a job well done in the Indian Air Force. However, it has been granted during times of conflict for acts of gallantry in the face of enemy, though not in the same numb ...

in 2006 for his service.

Personal life

A fitness enthusiast and voracious reader, he is married to

Nirmala Tutakne Manikantan (Retd). The couple is blessed with a son Astrith and a daughter Abhishree.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manikantan, Balakrishnan Living people Indian Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Recipients of the Vayu Sena Medal Year of birth missing (living people) Defence Services Staff College alumni