NEW DELHI: Nine IAF fighter pilots, four soldiers and two BSF personnel have been awarded Vir Chakra, the nation’s third-highest wartime gallantry medal, for their role in Operation Sindoor, under which India conducted deep cross-border precision strikes against terror hubs and military installations in Pakistan.Operation Sindoor was the prominent theme of 127 gallantry medals & 40 distinguished service awards.

IAF, Army & BSF personnel honoured for Sindoor valour

Operation Sindoor was the prominent theme of 127 gallantry medals and 40 distinguished service awards approved by the President in the awards list for the 79th Independence Day.They included four Kirti Chakras, which is the country’s second-highest peacetime gallantry medal, 15 Vir Chakras, 16 Shaurya Chakras, 58 Sena Medals, six Nao Sena Medals, seven Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medals (SYSMs), nine Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 24 Yudh Seva Medals, two Bar to Sena Medals, and 290 Mention-in-Despatches.Vir Chakras were awarded to IAF officers, Group Captains Ranjeet Singh Sidhu, Manish Arora, Animesh Patni and Kunal Kalra, Wing Commander Joy Chandra, Squadron Leaders Sarthak Kumar, Siddhant Singh and Rizwan Malik, and Flight Lieutenant Aarshveer Singh Thakur.While the Army awardees were Colonel Koshank Lamba, Lt ColonelSushil Bisht, Naib Subedar Satish Kumar and Rifleman Sunil Kumar, the ones from BSF were sub-inspector Mohd Imteyaj and constable Deepak Chingakham who were killed defending the highly-sensitive Kharkola outpost in Jammu against intense shelling and drone attacks during the cross-border hostilities.SYSMs, highest wartime distinguished service decoration that has been awarded only a few times in the past, was awarded to seven top military officers who planned and executed Operation Sindoor. They are Lt-Gen Pratik Sharma (Northern Army Command chief), Lt-Gen Rajiv Ghai (DGMO), Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh (then Western Naval Command chief), Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari (IAF vice chief), Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor (Southern Air Command chief), Air Marshal Jeetandra Mishra (Western Air Command chief), and Air Marshal A K Bharti (DG Air Operations).Twenty-six IAF officers and air warriors were awarded Vayu Sena Medal, most of them for their role in the operation for managing and operating S-400 surface-to-air missile and other air defence systems to intercept missiles and waves of drones launched from across the border. Sixteen BSF personnel, who fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the armed forces during Operation Sindoor, successfully defending their posts in J&K and destroying enemy posts and their surveillance equipment in retaliatory fire, were, in turn, honoured with police medals for gallantry.