Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, June 18

History was created at the Air Force Academy today with the first batch of three women pilots inducted into the fighter squadron. Flying Officers Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh were the cynosure of all eyes at the graduation parade at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal as they became the country’s first batch of fighter pilots. They were commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who reviewed the parade.India has now joined a select band of nations in the world that have women fighter pilots. The three women pilots will get to fly fighter jets next year on completion of stage-III training at Bidar in Karnataka. They will receive training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers before they get to fly supersonic warplanes.It was a proud moment for the young achievers as the Defence Minister awarded them the President’s Commission. “This is just the beginning. Slowly, women in large numbers will be part of the armed forces,” Parrikar said.“It is a great honour. We are happy to get this opportunity to serve the country,” Avani, Bhawana and Mohana told the media after the parade. “Joining the Indian Air Force for flying was a dream instilled by my parents and grandparents,” said Mohana Singh, whose father is with the IAF and whose grandfather served as a flight gunner in the Aviation Research Centre.“It is an opportunity to serve the country,” said Avani who hails from Satna district in Madhya Pradesh. She was motivated by her brother, who is in the Army, to join the IAF.Bhawana hails from Darbhanga in Bihar. Daughter of an officer with the Indian Oil Corporation, she opted for the fighter stream after successfully completing stage I training. Six women cadets had competed to become fighter pilots. Only three were selected.While women pilots have been flying helicopters and transport aircraft since 1991, it was in October last year that the government decided to allow women to fly fighter jets. Combat roles in the Army and the Navy are still off limits for women owing to operational concerns and logistical constraints.Parrikar urged the young officers to give their best by adapting themselves to the dynamically changing security environment. He exhorted the officers to keep pace with the swiftly advancing technology to exploit the potential of aerospace power.

New force in the air

• Flying Officers Mohana Singh, Avani Chaturvedi and Bhawana Kanth were on Saturday commissioned as India’s first women fighter pilots.
• On completion of successful training at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal on the outskirts of Hyderabad, the trio were formally commissioned into the Indian Air Force by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and were the centre of attraction at the Combined Graduation Parade.
• The women will get to fly fighter jets next year after completion of stage-III training at Bidar in Karnataka. The women, who flew the Pilatus and Kiran jet trainers, will now get to train on the Hawk advanced trainer jets for a year before being allowed to fly supersonic warplanes. Report back page

May resolve Chief of Defence Staff issue this fiscal: Parrikar

• Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar hopes to ‘clinch’ the issue of having a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) during this fiscal
• “The question is not of hurdles (in having a CDS). The important point is that CDS actually has a linkage to ‘jointness’ in the command (in three forces),” he said
• “Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) is already there. CDS intends to be much more than that. The ‘first among equal’ syndrome does not exist with CDS,” he added

INDIA GETS FIRST WOMEN TOP GUNS