Naib Subedar Rajendra Singh Rana

Nb Sub Rajendra Singh Rana hailed from Karnataka and joined the Army after completing his initial education. He was recruited into the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), a branch of the Indian Army, responsible for the design, development, trial, inspection, and refit of weapon systems and equipment. After serving for some time, he got trained in the maintenance of "Dhruv", helicopters and became part of the Army Aviation Corps.

Op Falcon : 21 April 2011

During 2011 Nb Sub Rajendra Singh Rana was serving with the 2016 Maintenance Flight of 204 Army Aviation Squadron based at Siliguri in West Bengal. 204 Army Aviation Squadron was raised in the year 2009 with HAL-manufactured ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter), called 'Dhruv'. The 'Dhruv' helicopter was a versatile, multi-role, multi-purpose machine designed to undertake various operational tasks. The Squadron was undertaking various air support missions for the army units deployed at the forward locations along the Indo-China border. On 21 April 2011, Lt Col CN Nanjappa was tasked with one such operational mission, along with his co-pilot Lt Col Nitin Bhatia as part of "Operation Falcon". The other crew members tasked with the mission included Nb Sub Rajendra Singh Rana and Nk Pawan Kumar Pant. The crew took off in their Dhruv Helicopter to carry out the assigned task from the Sewak Road Base in Siliguri West Bengal to the Sikkim border as per the operational plan on the morning of 21 April 2011.

The flight was uneventful in the initial phase, however, after an hour around 11.30 am the Helicopter lost radio contact flying over north Sikkim near the China border. The helicopter apparently developed a technical snag and became uncontrollable. Lt Col CN Nanjappa, and co-pilot Lt Col Nitin Bhatia using their flying skills, tried to land the helicopter, but could not succeed. Consequently, the Helicopter crashed, prompting the Army to launch a rescue operation. However it took the rescue team many hours, and eventually, the wreckage of the advanced light helicopter was traced in the Shiv Mandir area on 22 April 2011. Nb Sub Rajendra Singh Rana and his comrades Lt Col C N Nanjappa, Lt Col Nitin Bhatia, and Nk Pawan Kumar Pant, could not survive and were martyred. Nb Sub Rajendra Singh Rana was a brave and determined Junior Commissioned Officer, who laid down his life in the line of his duty.

Naib Subedar Rajendra Singh Rana is survived by his wife Smt Kalpana Singh Rana.