Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal, DFC was the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He served in the IAF from 1939 until his retirement in 1973. He was the CAS at the time of Operation Chengiz Khan, the preemptive strikes that were carried out by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) that marked the formal initiation of hostilities of the war.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) is a statutory office held by the professional head of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the aerial branch of the Indian Armed Forces. Customarily held by a four-star air chief marshal, the CAS is the senior-most operational officer of the IAF, mandated with the responsibilities of supervising the force's overall functioning during states of peace and wartime, committing to the establishment-cum-continuity of air deterrence and executing India's security objectives vis-à-vis the preservation of the country's air sovereignty. Also a permanent member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) and the National Security Council (NSC), the CAS also bears the responsibility of advising the nation's civilian leadership i.e., the Government of India on all matters privy to the IAF.