Western Air Command chief reviews maintenance ops, preparedness at Siachen Glacier

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Air Command, Raghunath Nambiar visited Kumar post at 17,000 feet in Siachen Glacier on Wednesday to review air maintenance operations and preparedness along the Indo-Pak border.

Siachen Brigade Commander Brigadier Bhupesh Hada also accompanied him.

Nambiar, a Kargil war hero was appointed the new chief of Western Air Command on February 28. He took over from Air Marshal Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar.

Air Marshal Nambiar is credited for shooting five of the eight Laser Guided Bombs on the Pakistani positions during the Kargil war from his plane.

The WAC is headquartered in the national capital and controls the area from north of Bikaner in Rajasthan up to Siachen Glacier and controls almost 40 per cent of the air bases of the Indian Air Force.

Nambiar has the distinction of having the highest number of flying hours on the Mirage-2000 in the IAF, with over 2300 flying hours on the aircraft to his credit, and a total of 5100 hours of flying experience.

He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and was the Project Test Pilot for the Light Combat Aircraft "Tejas".

Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar has been a Flight commander of a Mirage-2000 Squadron, the Senior Test Pilot and Commanding Officer of the Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft System Testing Establishment (ASTE).

He has commanded the oldest Squadron of the IAF, the prestigious No. 1 Squadron.

He flew the Mirage-2000 in combat during the Kargil conflict and has flown 25 operational missions.

Nambiar was also awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for Gallantry by the President of India for the Kargil Operations.

He was awarded a Bar to the Vayu Sena Medal for flight testing the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in 2002, during its first phase of flight testing.