Siddharth Vashisht, VM

Biography

Squadron Leader Siddharth Vashisht hailed from Hamidpur village, Naraingarh block, Ambala district, Haryana. He came from a fourth-generation military family — his father Jagdish Kasal was an ex-serviceman, and his maternal uncle Wing Commander Vineet Bharadwaj had died in a MiG-21 crash in February 2002. Siddharth completed his schooling at Shivalik Public School, Chandigarh and graduated from DAV College, Chandigarh. He cleared the Combined Defence Services Examination and was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on June 19, 2010. Trained as a helicopter pilot with 154 Helicopter Unit at Srinagar, he evolved into an ace pilot with expertise in various air operations, including the Kerala flood rescue efforts of 2018. On February 27, 2019 — the day after the Balakot airstrike — Squadron Leader Vashisht captained Mi-17 V-5 helicopter ZP-5220, which took off at 1000 hours from Srinagar for an air support mission. Approximately 10 minutes after takeoff, the helicopter was struck by the IAF's own SPYDER air defence system in the operationally charged environment. The aircraft crashed near Garend Kalaan village in Budgam district, killing all six crew members. For his courage, devotion to duty, and supreme sacrifice, Squadron Leader Siddharth Vashisht was posthumously awarded the Vayu Sena Medal.