Squadron Leader Mohana Singh has carved out for herself, the brand new honor of being the first female fighter pilot to be part of the prestigious 18 ‘Flying Bullets’ squadron of the IAF, which operates the ‘Made in India’ LCA Tejas fighter jets.
One of the earliest female fighter pilots in the country, Squadron Leader Singh has broken the glass ceiling yet again. This achievement demonstrates the intention of the Indian Air Force to promote gender justice and empower women.
The officer participated in the recent Tarang Shakti exercise which was held in Jodhpur, where she was onboard in the historical flight operated by all three Vice Chiefs of the three forces.
Sqn Ldr Mohana Singh was part of the trailblazing first group of three women fighter pilots of Indian Air Force.
Her other two female colleagues Mohana Singh and Avni Chaturvedi Sink are now posted with other Su-30 MKI fighter jets in the western desert.
Till quite recently, she was operating the MiG-21s, and was thanks to her recent deployment to the LCA squadron which is situated at the Naliya air base in the Gujarat sector along the Indo-Pak border.
While in the flight, Sqn Ldr Mohana was seen in an LCA Tejas fighter plane practicing with the Army and Navy Vice Chiefs and assisting them to prepare for the flight.
Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh, Vice Chief of Indian Air Force f lew solo on LCA Tejas fighter variant while other two Vice Chiefs Lt Gen NS Raja Subramani and Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan flew with 02 fighter pilots the trainer developed variants of the Tejas.
This exercise was regarded as Joint Forces of Defence propagating one the widest reforms in Make in India. The flight also took part in an LCA Tejas when all the top countries’ air forces which included the US, Greece, Sri Lanka, Australia and host of other countries with best of the fighter planes participated in multinational exercise held at Jodhpur airbase.
IAF has approximately twenty women fighter pilots as the government allowed women in fighter stream in the year 2016.
