Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to discuss women fighter pilots plan

NEW DELHI: Soon, probably within the next two to three years, Indian women pilots will be able to tear into the skies in supersonic fighter jets, breaking the sound barrier with sonic booms. They will then be able to "touch the sky with glory" in keeping with IAF's motto.

Signalling a major break from the rigid combat-exclusion policy for women in the armed forces, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Thursday announced that IAF will now allow women officers to fly fighters. "We have women pilots flying transport aircraft and helicopters. We are now planning to induct them into the fighter stream to meet the aspirations of young women of India," he said.

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IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Thursday said that women will soon be able to fly combat fighter planes. He said this after reviewing the parade and flypast on IAF's 83rd anniversary at Hindon airbase on the outskirts of New Delhi.


The IAF's proposal will be discussed at a meeting called by defence minister Manohar Parrikar with the three Service chiefs next week. Till now, the Indian
political leadership and military brass were stridently opposed to deploying women in combat roles, holding the country was not ready to deal with the grim possibility of its women being taken PoWs, tortured or raped in times of conflict.




But while direct ground combat roles for women through the infantry , armoured corps and artillery will still remain a strict no-go area because it entails deployment in forward areas in close proximity to enemy forces, the mental barriers against them becoming fighter pilots or serving on operational warships are now being gradually dismantled.

ACM Raha, on his part, was confident IAF would get the gov ernment's approval for the path-breaking move. But what if a woman fighter pilot is shot down behind enemy lines?

"Woman fighter pilots need not necessarily go across the border. We have a lot of roles for fighter pilots within the country like air defence (to intercept incoming enemy fighters), training, qualified flying instructors etc. If the need arises, they will also undertake proper combat roles. That is for the future to see. I don't see any incongruence in women fighting it out in real combat scenarios," he said. When women fighter pilots began to get inducted in the world's fourth-largest air force, India will join the ranks of several countries, ranging from the US, UK and Russia to Israel, Turkey and Pakistan, that have for decades allowed women to fly combat jets. Some of these women fighter pilots went ahead to even became "aces", notching over five "kills", while a few got killed in combat.

Rapid advances in military technology , of course, have also made attributes like physical toughness redundant. For years, the top IAF brass cited major training costs as well as biological constraints to keep women away from flying fighters.