India's first woman jet fighter to hit the skies by 2017 after defence ministry's historic decision to remove gender barrier
She's all set to get into a fighter jet’s cockpit. One of the seven women cadets undergoing training at the Air Force Academy (AFA) near Hyderabad could become India’s first woman fighter pilot.
The grand opportunity has come their way after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) allowed women to fly combat jets in a landmark decision on Saturday.
The final frontier for the women pilots has opened nearly 20 years after they were first inducted into the armed forces.
The IAF had made the move by shedding its long-standing inhibition over allowing women to steer supersonic jets.
China’s first batch of women fighter pilots during a ceremony at a PLA air force base in Beijing on August 30, 2009
It had sent the proposal to the MoD, which gave its crucial nod to what it described as a “progressive step keeping with the aspirations of Indian women”.
For years, the three services had avoided assigning combat roles to women, citing a number of reasons from the country’s social fabric to impact on the morale of the nation if they fall as prisoners of war.
The IAF’s decision has already set the ball rolling for other services to consider a re-think. The Indian Navy, for instance, will soon induct women pilots into its fleet for the first time.
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As of now, the navy has women officers only as observers, but avoids placing them on-board warships.
Assignments on warships will wait for some more time.
Complete review
The ministry recently undertook a complete review of women in armed forces both in short service and permanent commission, and will come out with a policy to open more streams for them.
The IAF has around 110 pilots flying helicopters and transport aircraft, where they have performed on par with their male counterparts.
Sources said every batch has around seven to eight women cadets in flying stream. The women cadets in the current batch can join the fighter stream by completing their ‘ab-initio’ training in 2016, but they would be able to enter a fighter jet’s cockpit only by June 2017 after undergoing a one-year advanced training.
It takes around three to four years to make a fighter pilot ready for operational role. Sources said the first woman fighter pilot will be ready by the end of 2017.
It will take another three to four years for her to become fully operational.
Pilot project
Since it is a pilot project, the roles of women fighter pilots will be limited initially.
They could perform air defence roles like escorting slow moving assets in air so that they remain within the territory of the country.
Their operational spectrum will be expanded gradually, said an official. The current batch at the IAF academy has seven women cadets, who are on the verge of completing the first six months of basic flying training.
They will move to the intermediate stage before moving on to the advanced level. In the initial stage, the training is imparted on Pilatus PC-7 basic trainer aircraft.
The IAF has recently readjusted its training programme by distributing the intermediate stage syllabus to PC-7 and Advanced Hawk jet trainers, which were earlier used only in the third stage.
After completing the training on Hawk jet trainers, the cadets are put into the cockpit of fighter jets.
The change of thinking in the Government to have women as fighter pilots has come a little late perhaps as many air forces in the world already have women fighter pilots.
Even neighbouring Pakistan opened the door for women pilots in the combat stream much before India even considered it.
The officials, however, want to avoid comparisons. They claimed that the decision was not inspired by the practices in other air forces.
PM’s idea
The decision is also in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of bringing women to the fore.
A statement to this effect was made during the Republic Day parade this year when for the first time all women contingents of the three services marched down the Rajpath.
The women officers said on the condition of anonymity that the Government would also have a re-look at the policy of granting permanent commission to them, an issue which is marred by litigation.
