NEW DELHI: A female Indian Air Force fighter pilot will soon join the newly incorporated Rafale fighter fleet as part of its crew flying the multi-role jet, official sources said Monday.
The female pilot has been flying MiG-21 fighters and was selected to join the Ambala-based Golden Arrows squad that operates the Rafale jets, they said.
“She was chosen to fly the Rafale jets after a rigorous selection process. She is now in training,” said a source.
In 2018, flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi wrote the story by becoming the first Indian woman to fly a solo fighter plane. She flew a MiG-21 bison on her first solo flight.
Chaturvedi was part of a three-member women’s team commissioned as flight officers in July 2016, less than a year after the government decided to open the stream of female fighters on an experimental basis. The other two female pilots were Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh.
Currently, the IAF has 10 female fighter pilots and 18 female navigators. The total number of female officers serving in the IAF is 1,875.
Last week, Minister of State for Defense Shripad Naik told Parliament that female fighter pilots are recruited and deployed in the IAF based on strategic needs and operational requirements.
Five French-made Rafale multi-role fighter jets were incorporated into the IAF’s Golden Arrows squadron on September 10 at Ambala Air Force Base.
The IAF’s Golden Arrows squad was resurrected on September 10 of last year. The squadron was originally raised at Ambala Air Force Station on October 1, 1951.
The squad has many firsts to its credit; in 1955 it was equipped with the first combat aircraft, the legendary De Havilland Vampire.
So far, ten Rafale aircraft have been delivered to India and five of them stayed in France to train IAF pilots. The delivery of the 36 aircraft is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2021.
The second batch of four to five Rafale jets is likely to arrive in India in November.
The Rafale jets, known for their air superiority and precision strikes, are India’s first major fighter jet acquisition in 23 years after Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on July 29, almost four years after India signed an intergovernmental agreement with France to acquire 36 jets at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
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