For the first time in the Army Aviation Corps, two women officers have been selected to undergo helicopter pilot training, the Army said on Wednesday.
They would be trained at the Army aviation training school, Nashik. “Selected women on successful completion of training at Nashik will join flying duties by July 2022,” it stated.
Till now, women officers were assigned only ground duties in the Army Aviation Corps.
Fifteen women officers volunteered to join the Army aviation, but only the two qualified through a stringent selection process that included the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test (PABT) and medicals, the Army stated.
At the January last annual press conference, Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane said a proposal to induct women as helicopter pilots had been cleared. In May, the Army inducted the first batch of 83 women soldiers in the Corps of Military Police, the first induction of women in non-officer cadre.
The Indian Air Force has 10 women fighter pilots, while women pilots have been flying transport aircraft and helicopters for a long time.
The Navy has women officers flying Dornier aircraft as well as observers onboard P-8I maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters.