Air Marshal

S R K Nair

PVSM, AVSM, VM, M-in-D
Born (1958-07-07) 7 July 1958
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Allegiance India
Service/branch Indian Air Force
Years of serviceJune 1980 – July 2018
Rank Air Marshal
Service number16040
Commands heldTraining Command
Awards Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Ati Vishisht Seva Medal
Vayu Sena Medal
Spouse(s)Geethanjali Nair

Air Marshal Sreedhara Panicker Radha Krishnan Nair (born 7 July 1958), PVSM, AVSM, VM, Mention in Dispatches is a retired officer of Indian Air Force who was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command of the Indian Air Force from 1 September 2015 to 31 July 2018.[1] He succeeded Air Marshal Ramesh Rai.[2][3][4][5][6]

Early life and education

Nair was born on 7 July 1958 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He is an alumnus of Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram and National Defence Academy, Pune.[3][7][5]

Career

Nair was commissioned into the transport stream of the Indian Air Force in June 1980. He has clocked over 7200 hours of flying and has experience on many different types of aircraft's including Otter, Avro, An-32, Dornier and IL-76. He held several key operational and administrative appointments at various stages of his service including Chief Operations Officer of a Transport Base; Commanding Officer of a strategic Air lift Squadron; Director Operations (Transport) at Air Headquarters; Air Officer Commanding of AFS Chandigarh; Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Airmen and Civilians); Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Transport & Helicopter) and Senior Air Staff Officer of Training Command. He has also been extensively involved in many military operations including Operation Pawan, Operation Cactus, Operations Parakram and Operation Safed Sagar. As the Flight Commander, he was directly involved in initiating night operations to Leh and Thoise on the IL-76 aircraft. He has led multiple airborne exercises with foreign countries including Exercise Blue Crane in South Africa in 1999, Exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder in USA in 2003 and Russia in Exercise INDRA 2007.[8] He captained a flight to the North Pole in an Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76 aircraft on 20 Jun 2003, making it the first Indian aircraft to fly over the true North pole. He played a pivotal role in operationalising Daulet Beg Oldi, the highest air strip in the world , for An-32 and C-130 aircraft. He was involved in numerous disaster relief operations during the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, Super cyclone in Orissa, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Mumbai Floods, Cyclone Katrina, China Earthquake and was the Air Force co-ordinator for Operation Rahat. He is a qualified Flying Instructor, has been an Air Force Examiner and is the Commodore Commandant of 44 Squadron (Mighty Jets).[3][7][9][5][10] He joined the Armed Forces Tribunal as an Administrative Member at the Kochi Bench on 15 September 2020.

Awards and medals

During 38 years of his career, Nair has been awarded several medals: AOC-in-C Commendation, Chief of the Air Staff Commendation, GOC-in-C Commendation, Mention-in-Despatch (1999), the Vayu Sena Medal (2005), the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2010) and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2017).[7][9][11][12]

Personal life

He is married to Geethanjali Nair and their daughter Karthika Nair (Director & Head of Operations, Praesedia Biotherapeutics Pvt. Ltd.) is married to Manu Balachandran, Associate Editor, Forbes India.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "IAF training chief SRK Nair retires". The Times of India. 31 July 2018.
  2. ↑ "S R K Nair takes over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief in Bengaluru training command". The Economic Times. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "TRAINING COMMAND". indianairforce.nic.in. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  4. ↑ Staff Reporter (2016-11-28). "IAF chief stresses quality training of staff". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  5. 1 2 3 "New chiefs take charge at IAF's Southern, Eastern Commands". www.oneindia.com. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  6. ↑ "Training Command bids adieu to Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Ramesh Rai". The Hindu. 2015-07-31. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  7. 1 2 3 "Param Vishisht Seva Medal for S.R.K. Nair". The Hindu. 2017-01-25. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  8. ↑ "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  9. 1 2 "Air Marshal SRK Nair conferred PVSM". Jammu Kashmir Latest News | Tourism | Breaking News J&K. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  10. ↑ "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  11. ↑ "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  12. ↑ "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 2017-10-13.
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