Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

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 & Bar is a retired 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 served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C),

Western Air Command , colors= , colors_label= , battles= 1962 Sino-Indian War, 1971 India-Pakistan War, Operation Meghdoot , anniversaries= , commander1= Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, AVSM, VM , commander1_label= Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief(AOC-in-C) , no ...

from 1 March 2019 to 31 October 2019.

Early life and education

Raghunath Nambiar's father, Padmanabhan Nambiar, was a

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

with the Indian Air Force. Nambiar is an alumnus of the

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 ...

Career

Nambiar was commissioned into the fighter stream in June 1981. He has clocked over 5,100 hours of flying experience among which 2,300 hours were on

Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force ('' ...

and has flown 42 different types of aircraft. He is an experimental test pilot, is a member of Society of Experimental Test Pilots and was a test pilot for the

HAL Tejas The HAL Tejas is an Indian, single engine, delta wing, light multirole fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for t ...

project. He has commanded the oldest squadron in the Indian Air Force, the No. 1 Squadron, and flew over 25 operational missions in a

during the

Kargil war The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...

. He was the first pilot to drop laser guided bombs for the Indian Air Force. He has held other command positions including Air Officer Commanding AFS Jamnagar; Air Defence Commander of Western Air Command and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff. He has held numerous staff appointments including Director of Space Applications at Air HQ; Chief Operations Officer of AFS Gwalior; Principle Director of Offensive Operations at Air HQ; Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of Southern Air Command; and Commandant of Aircraft System Testing Establishment (ASTE). He was also a former pilot and the commanding officer of the flight test squadron at ASTE. He was also posted at the Indian embassy in Israel as a defense attaché. Nambiar assumed office of Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command on 1 October 2018 following Air Marshal Anil Khosla's elevation to the post of Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS). He also served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief,

. He assumed the office on 1 March 2019 following the retirement of Air Marshal

Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar Air Marshal Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM, ADC is a retired officer of the Indian Air Force. He served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Western Air Command from 1 January 2017 to 28 February 2019. He assumed ...

and served till his superannuation on 31 October 2019. Air Marshal Balakrishnan Suresh succeeded him.

Awards and decorations

During his career, Nambiar has been awarded with numerous awards and decorations including two

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 ...

s, one for Gallantry during the Kargil Operations and for flight testing the

(2002), the

Ati Vishist 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 (2015),

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) ( IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

in 2019, and commendations from the Chief of Air Staff (1991) and C-in-C of Strategic Force Command (2005).

Personal life

Air Marshal Nambiar is married to Luxmi Nambiar. His son, Aswin Nambiar, is a commercial pilot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nambiar, Raghunath Living people Indian Air Force air marshals National Defence Academy (India) alumni Recipients of the Vayu Sena Medal Recipients of the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Indian air attachés