Second Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi and Second Lieutenant Riti Singh.
New Delhi:
In a move that will redefine gender equality in the Indian Navy, 2nd Lt. Kumudini Tyagi and 2nd Lt. Riti Singh will be the first female officers to be deployed on Navy warships as part of the ship’s crew. Although the Indian Navy employs several female officers in its ranks, so far, women have not embarked on warships for extended periods due to a number of reasons, including lack of privacy in crew quarters and the availability of specific bathrooms for each gender. facilities.
That is going to change now with the two young officers training to operate a series of sensors aboard Navy multifunction helicopters, including sonar consoles and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) payloads. The two officers are expected to eventually fly in the Navy’s new MH-60 R helicopters, 24 of which are on order. Widely regarded as the most advanced multi-role helicopters of its kind in the world, the MH-60R is designed to detect enemy ships and submarines that can be attacked with missiles and torpedoes. In 2018, the then Defense Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, had authorized the acquisition of the helicopters built by Lockheed-Martin in a deal estimated at 2.6 billion dollars.
News of the deployment of female officers aboard the ships comes one day when it emerged that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has shortlisted a female fighter pilot to operate in its fleet of Rafale fighter jets. The operational conversion of this officer has begun, although it is unclear when he will be declared ‘operational’ with the IAF Golden Arrows squad at Ambala, which is the first IAF squad to operate the French-built fighter, the most advanced in the IAF inventory.
Second Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi and Second Lieutenant Riti Singh will be the first female officers to be deployed on Navy warships as part of the ship’s crew.
In 2016, Flight Lieutenant Bhawanna Kanth, Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi and Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh became India’s first female fighter pilots. At this time, the IAF has 1,875 women in service, including 10 fighter pilots. Eighteen female officers are navigators believed to be also deployed to the combat fleet, operating as Weapons Systems Operators on combat aircraft, including the Sukhoi-30MKI.
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