First Woman Fighter Pilot Shivangi Singh Part Of IAF Tableau In Republic Day Parade

The first woman fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force's Rafale squadron Shivangi Singh was part of the IAF tableau that featured in the Republic Day parade on January 26. So far, less than 20 women have been commissioned as fighter pilots since the government launched a scheme for their induction in the year 2015.

Coming from Varanasi, Singh joined the IAF's fighter stream in 2017 and flew MiG-21 Bison aircraft. Later, she was posted in the Rafale squadron in Ambala. Apart from Rafale, women pilots also operate MiG-21 Bison, Sukhoi-30 and MiG-29 fighters. Currently, there are at least 9,000 women working in the Indian army, navy and air force. In the last seven years, the number of women has increased by three-folds considering the growing opportunities.

Women were first allowed to join armed forces outside the medical stream in 1992. Though they were allowed to serve on warships, tanks and combat positions in the infantry were still out of reach. In December, the Indian Navy planned on including more women officers on board alongside the male officers. They were also assigned frontline ships in the Indian Ocean region, which is a crucial region, internationally for the subcontinent.

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In October, last year, the Supreme Court even opened doors to the women cadets in the National Defence Academy, which is going to take place in June, this year.

In this limited yet growing space for women, Singh made her own corner. She underwent rigorous training to fly IAF's newest fighter in Ambala. She also has taken the conversion training to fly the jet and joined the No 17 squadron, also called Golden Arrows.

First Woman Fighter Pilot Shivangi Singh Part Of IAF Tableau

She passed out from the Benaras Hindu University (BSU) and became a household name after joining the force amongst the second batch of women fighter pilots. Prior to this, she was deployed as a cadet of the 7 UP Air Squadron in the National Cadet Corps. She has flown along with Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was taken captive after his MiG-21 was shot down  post the Balakot airstrikes.

Wing Commander Anupama Joshi (retd) told HT, "The struggle of two decades has culminated into this storm! In the past three years so much has progressed and now we are seeing yet another door opening. Absolutely delighted that the air force has not dithered and tur to its grain has handed over the newest machine to Shivangi. Go, girl...Touch the sky with glory."