On February 1, 2022, defence minister Rajnath Singh announced government’s decision to convert experimental scheme of inducting women as fighter pilots into a permanent one.

Key Points

• Experimental scheme to allow women to fly fighter planes in Indian Air Force (IAF) was started six years ago in 2015.
• 16 women have been commissioned as fighter pilots so far, since the implementation of experimental scheme in 2016.
• Now, defence ministry has given clearance to make this scheme a permanent one.

Background

This move was announced at a time when new doors have been opened for women in the armed forces. Indian Navy is going ahead with a plan to provide women opportunities to serve warships, with their male counterparts. Indian Army has also allowed women to fly helicopters. They are now eligible for permanent commission. Furthermore, the National Defence Academy is set to induct first batch of women cadets in June 2022. The Supreme Court had pronounced to open doors of this academy to women in October 2021.

Women Pilots in IAF

The women pilots of IAF are operating the Rafale, MiG-21s, Sukhoi-30s and MiG-29 fighters. Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is India’s first Rafale pilot. She was part of the IAF tableau, which was featured in the Republic Day parade 2022.