Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British i ...

Satish Kumar Sareen,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of India. It is the highest peacetime medal of the Indian Armed Forces, and is awarded for "dist ...

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 ...

, VM, ADC (born 1 March 1939) was the Chief of Air Staff of

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

from 31 December 1995 till 31 December 1998.

Early life

Satish Kumar Sareen's family originally hailed from

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

, in present-day

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

where he was born on 1 March 1939. His family moved to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

during the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

Training

Sareen joined the IAF in 1954, where he was part of the Joint Services Wing (JSW) in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

. The JSW was a predecessor of today's

National Defence Academy The National Defence Academy (NDA) is the joint defence service training institute of the Indian Armed Forces. Here, cadets of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force train together before they go on to their respective service a ...

. Sareen graduated from the first batch of the JSW and went onto the AFFC for flying training. He was commissioned on 29 May 1957. Sareen stood first among the fighter stream pilots and was awarded the Himmatsinghji trophy.

Career

In 1957, Sareen was posted to No.20 Squadron flying Vampire Fighters. He moved on to No.4 Squadron flying the Organs. It was with No.4 Squadron that he took part in the Goa Operations in 1961 when he flew several sorties against Portuguese targets. After the operations in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

, Sareen took up his first non-operational appointment when he attended the Pilot Attack Instructor (PAI) course. He distinguished himself in the course and was retained as an instructor in the PAI Program, where he helped impart training to others following in the same stream. When the Indo-Pakistani War broke out in 1965, Sareen was with No.29 Scorpios Squadron flying the Ouragans at

Gauhati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

. He undertook some sorties against targets in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

, but the fighting was minimal in the Eastern Sector. After the war, Sareen moved to No.27 Flaming Arrows Squadron flying the

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

. After a brief stint, he was part of a detachment of pilots earmarked for conversion to MiG-21s. Sareen moved back to No.29 Squadron after it converted back to the

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

. In January 1970, Sareen attended the

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 Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air ...

(DSSC) at Wellington. He passed out of DSSC in November 1970. Now a

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr or S/L) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Squadron leader is immediatel ...

, Sareen joined Eastern Air Command as the

chief operations officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the CEO, ...

with

Agartala Agartala (, , ) is the capital and the List of cities and towns in Tripura, largest city of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tripura, situated on the banks of Haora River, Haora/Saidra River, about east of the border ...

AFB in

Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...

near the East Pakistan border.

was base to some Gnat fighters during the 1971 Ind-Pak War. He was responsible for planning and launching extensive fighter,

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, transport operations including several successful strikes on the

Chittagong City Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It i ...

. For his role, Sareen received the

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 n ...

. After the war, Sareen took over as Ops 1 Officer with Eastern Air Command HQ. In 1973, he was posted to No.1 Squadron flying MiG-21s in

Adampur Adampur is a town, a municipal council and a sub-tehsil in Jalandhar district in the Indian state of Punjab. The town was named after the Mughal general Adham Khan. Geography Adampur Doaba is located at . It has an average elevation of 233&nbs ...

as Senior Flight Commander. After more than two years with the Squadron, Sareen received an opportunity to be posted to the

Iraqi Air Force The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF; ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well as the policing of its international borders. The IQAF also acts as a support force for t ...

as an instructor. This was part of longstanding bilateral arrangements between the two air forces in the 1970s. Sareen took up the offer and was posted to

Al-Kut Kūt (), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare, Kut al-Imara, or Kut Al Amara is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad, and the capital of the Wasit Governorate. the estimated populatio ...

military airbase in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. During his tenure in Iraq till 1977, Sareen undertook more than a 1000 instructional sorties. In 1977, Sareen was the

of No.15 Wing at

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The city ...

. He got his first command soon after at the same airbase, No.24 Squadron flying the

bis. After promotion to

Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

in 1981, he took over an Air Defence Signals Unit in the Eastern Sector. Numerous Staff Appointments followed, he was Air Defence Commander, WAC, and SWAC. Air Attaché to the High Commission of India in London. In 1989, he returned to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and was commander of

Srinagar Air Force Station Srinagar International Airport , officially named as Sheikh Ul Alam International Airport, is an international airport serving Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. ...

in the

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

and

Kashmir Valley The Kashmir Valley, also known as the Vale of Kashmir, is an intermontane valley in northern Jammu and Kashmir, a region in Indian-administered Kashmir.(a) (subscription required) Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcont ...

. He was 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 D ...

(AVSM) for distinguished service in 1990. Soon afterwards he took over as ACAS (Ops) at Air HQ in the rank of

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

. After a short stint as SASO

Central Air Command Central Air Command may refer to: * Central Air Command (India), one of five operational commands of the Indian Air Force * Central Air Command (Pakistan), one of five operational commands of the Pakistan Air Force *Central Air Command (Sweden), on ...

, Sareen took over

South Western Air Command The South Western Air Command (SWAC) is one of the five operational commands of the Indian Air Force, headquartered in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Gandhinagar. It was raised in Jodhpur in July 1980 from the No.1 Operations Group of the Western Air Com ...

as AOC-in-C. After about a year, he moved onto as the AOC-in-C

Western Air Command The Western Air Command (WAC) is the regional command of Indian Air Force headquartered in New Delhi. It is the largest and most important Air Command of the IAF, comprising sixteen Air Force Bases (AFBs), and is responsible for aerial defence of ...

- India's Premier Air Command. It was in this capacity he received the

in 1995. Sareen was posted back to Air HQ as the Vice Chief of Air Staff responsible for all IAF defensive & offensive operations and intelligence activities. Finally, in December 1995, he was promoted to Air Chief Marshal to take over as the Chief of the Air Staff,

. His tenure saw the

nuclear tests Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of Nuclear explosion, their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to si ...

Pokhran Pokhran (official spelling Pokaran; ) is a town and a municipality located 112 km east of Jaisalmer city in the Jaisalmer district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated in the Thar Desert region. Surrounded by rocks, sand and ...

. Within the Air force, it saw wide-ranging changes in the strategic, operational, training, maintenance and flight safety doctrines & performance of the IAF. Particular attention paid to the welfare of serving and retired

Air Force personnel An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

and their families. Air Chief Marshal Sareen retired on 31 December 1998, handing over the charge to Air Chief Marshal

Anil Yashwant Tipnis Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC (born 15 September 1940) served as Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force from 31 December 1998 to 31 December 2001. He commanded the Air Force to distinction during the Kar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sareen, Satish 1939 births Living people Chiefs of Air Staff (India) Vice chiefs of Air Staff (India) Indian Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal