The Incredibles

Meet the Indian Air Force’s three women fighter jet pilots for whom the sky is not the limit. It is just a starting point, finds Supriya Dravid

- Supriya Dravid

Navigating everyday India’s multiple identities is not for the faint-hearted. As we straddle the dichotomy of our culture and patriarchy, occasionally there comes a story that makes your heart soar.

In 2016, the Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted the first batch of women fighter jet pilots—Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh. It was in October 2015 that the government, spearheaded by the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, took the decision to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis. “The IAF has had women pilots for over 20 years—in the transport and helicopter stream. But it was time the IAF paved the way for women to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling and open up the fighter flying stream for them,” says Air Commodore LK Chawla, the Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station Ambala.

The IAF has been at the forefront of empowering women. While they were always enrolled in the medical branch, in 1992 the IAF started the induction of women to other branches initially in Ground Duties, and later to train for flying transport aircrafts and helicopters as well. Even though these roles were directed towards combat support ops only, the IAF was the first defence service to do so. Today, there are around 1,500 women in the IAF. And now, it is yet again paving the path for women by enrolling them in front-line combat roles—thereby putting India on the world map.