Wing Commander Eslin Paul D'Couto (17863) F (P) was commissioned on 14 Jun 85 as a Fighter Pilot in the IAF. In 21 years of distinguished service he has held several important field and staff appointments that include Flying Instructor at Air force Academy, Flight Commander of a Fighter Squadron, and as Directing Staff at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. For his professionalism in recovering a crippled trainer aircraft, he was commended by the Chief of the Air Staff on 26 Jan 96. He took over command of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Squadron on 03 May 04. On induction of special payloads he displayed exemplary professional vision in conceptualizing the employment philosophy of these special payloads. The proposed employment has been accepted by the IAF for the entire UAV fleet. By his dedication, involvement and professional approach during every On Site Functional Acceptance Test (OSFAT) he was instrumental in identifying flaws and suggesting improvements which have been accepted by the OEM, thus preempting a subsequent upgrade. Under his guidance various innovations on the Data Acquisition System (DAS) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery interpretation station were carried out, resulting in large saving in foreign exchange. He was instrumental in formulating very exhaustive briefing guides, SOPs and syllabi for use of special payloads on UAVs which have been accepted by Air HQ (VB) for entire UAV fleet.

Under his leadership the air warriors of the Squadron are highly motivated and constantly upgrade their knowledge through interaction with the OEM and TETTRA. The OP crew of the Squadron, through a mix of many branches, always work as a cohesive team, comparable to the best of fighter Squadrons of IAF. In the last two years, the Squadron has achieved many distinctions and was judged the BEST UAV SQUADRON in WAC for 2005. It is the only UAV Squadron to be inspected by DASI with Average plus overall grading. In the last two years the squadron has flown a total of 1423 hours, the highest by any UAV squadron, without a single accident/incident on UAVs or Half Scales. It has the maximum cross trained operators, with all Fully Operational External Pilots (EP) trained as Internal Pilots (IP) and three IPs as EPs. All Internal Pilots of the Squadron have been declared as Mission Commanders and are all trained as Special Payload Operators.

For his personal involvement, dedication and exceptional devotion to duty, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vayu Sena Medal' to Wing Commander Eslin Paul D'Couto.

Wing Commander Arvind Kumar Dwivedi (16979) Flying (Pilot) was commissioned in the Flying Branch of the 1AF on 29 Dec 1982. He has flown 3000 h on MiG-21 and Mirage2000 aircraft. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College and a Qualified Flying Instructor. In 21 years of distinguished service he has held several important appointments like Flight Commander of a fighter Sqn and Station Flight Safety and Inspection Officer (SFS10). For his zeal, professionalism and dedication to the service, he has been awarded CAS Commendation on three occasions. While working as SFS10 at AF Station, Gwalior, Wg Cdr Dwivedi created an excellent flight safety environment and brought down the bird strikes to zero thereby bringing tangible savings to exchequer. As a result, the station was awarded flight safety trophy for two consecutive years.

He took over command of the first Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sqn on 01 Jul 2002 during 'Op Parakram'. He displayed exemplary professional vision in exploiting the versatile UAVs. He contributed immensely in refining and upgrading the professional standards of op crew and ensured 100% fully ops status of the Sqn. His emphasis on training and consolidating of tech crew has ensured that all unit level maintenance activities are undertaken without the assistance of manufacturer, thereby saving precious foreign exchange. He flew more than 200 h in last one year and was directly involved in all operational missions. He played a stellar role in developing and formulating UAV tactics and Standard Operation Procedures for integrated training, joint operations and ferry of UAVs. He utilized his vast operational experience in deploying the Sqn at these different op locations in J&K sector during last one year. In addition to meeting all the Air Force tasks of obtaining target intelligence, the unit also flew operational missions in support of Army operations providing valuable and timely intelligence.

Under his supervision, the Sqn has contributed immensely towards conducting UAV Technical Type Training (TETTRA) courses despite severe constraints of manpower and resources. As a pioneer in the filed of UAV, he has presented three valuable service papers on "UAV Mission Planning in High Risk Areas", "Employment of Modern UAVs and UCAVs" and "UAV-HRD Management".

For his contribution in the field of UAVs and for distinguished service of high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award Vishisht Seva Medal to Wing Commander Arvind Kumar Dwivedi.