Two days ahead of the Navy Day on December 4, first woman pilot of Indian Navy will join operations in Kochi on December 2.
The first woman pilot, Lieutenant Shivangi, will join naval operations on completion of operational training in Kochi on December 2. With this, Indian Navy is all set to get the first woman pilot for flying fixed-wing Dornier surveillance planes.
"Shivangi will graduate to become the First female Pilot of Indian Navy. She hails from Muzzafarpur, Bihar and completed her schooling from DAV Public school, Muzzafarpur," a defence source told PTI.
She was inducted into Indian Navy as SSC (Pilot) as part of 27 NOC course in Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala and got formally commissioned by Vice Admiral AK Chawla, in June last year.
The Navy's Aviation branch has had women officers operating as air traffic control officers and as ''observers'' in the aircraft who are responsible for communication and weapons, the source told the news agency.
Lieutenant Shivangi, who had been undergoing training at the Southern Naval Command, will get authorisation on December 2 to fly Dornier aircrafts.
The multi-role Dornier 228 is built indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and is deployed for carrying out a short-range maritime reconnaissance mission
Fitted with state-of-the-art’ sensors and equipment, Dornier 228 also includes advanced surveillance radar, electronic sensors and networking features which gives it an edge over maintaining maritime dominance in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Earlier this year in May, Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth became the first woman pilot of the Indian Air Force to qualify to undertake combat missions on a fighter jet after completing operational syllabus of Mig-21 Bison aircraft during day time.
On this milestone, the Indian Air Force's official handle tweeted with #WomenPower:
"Flt Lt Bhawana Kanth adds another feather to her cap by completing Day Operational syllabus on MiG-21 Bison aircraft. She is the first woman fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft.”
Flt Lt Kanth belongs to the first batch of woman fighter pilots of the IAF.
In July 2016, Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh were commissioned as flying officers. The development came after the Centre decided to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis.
In yet another significant development, the first batch of 100 women soldiers in the Indian Army is likely to be commissioned by March 2021. They will be commissioned into the Corps of Military Police of the Indian Army.