An Indian-born aeronautics engineer from Australia has been honoured with the ‘World’s Outstanding Aerospace Engineer Leadership Award’ by the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International.
AHS is the world’s premier professional institution dedicated to vertical flight technology and advancement. It selected Lt Col Dr Arvind Sinha (retd) for his distinguished career in vertical flight technology.
Sinha, who received the award recently in the US, was also bestowed the title of AHS Honorary Fellow in May 2016.
The title is granted to Society members who have shown “exceptional leadership, or made innovative or other meritorious contributions, that have significantly advanced AHS International and the vertical flight community.”
Sinha is recipient of several awards, spanning military operations, design projects and academia. “The AHS honour is considered a benchmark for leadership excellence in vertical flight technology,” he told.
He is currently the Director of Engineering, Helicopter Systems Division, Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG), at the Department of Defence, Australia.
Working on Australian Army and Navy aviation platform and systems technologies, he is an expert in Tactical Aerospace Systems, covering helicopters and unmanned aircraft.
He is a former Professor and Director of Aerospace and Aviation Research Centre at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and now holds the title of Professor of Aerospace Design at Monash University, an Australian public research university based in Melbourne.
During his stint with the Indian Army, Sinha commanded elite units of Electronic Warfare and Airborne Special Forces.
As a young major, he was posted to command an engineering unit on the high-density altitude Siachen Glacier as part of Operation Meghdoot in 1984.
“The average stint there does not exceed 90 days due to the harsh conditions that test human endurance. However, my tenure was extended to two years for operational reasons, and my command was honoured with a Special Operations order,” he said.
Sinha said he was selected to pursue a doctorate in Australia based on his IIT Masters work in Helicopter Design for a doctoral project-based application research under an Australian Government-sponsored scholarship with RMIT University.
Sinha is a former Dean of the Faculty of Aviation in Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering in India. He is an alumnus of Sainik School Satara and the National Defence Academy.
