Avani Chaturvedi to be first IAF woman pilot to participate in aerial War Games abroad

NEW DELHI: The first-ever air combat exercise between India and Japan this month will register another first. Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi will soar high on her Sukhoi-30MKI jet, becoming the first IAF woman fighter pilot to take part in such aerial wargames in a foreign country.
Squadron Leader Chaturvedi, who became the first woman to fly a MiG-21 `Bison’ solo in February 2018, is part of the IAF contingent headed for Japan for the `Veer Guardian’ exercise from January 12 to 26 at the Hyakuri airbase, an IAF officer said on Saturday.
The air combat exercise is a significant development in the continuing upward trajectory in military ties between India and Japan, with both countries being wary of a belligerent and expansionist China, as was reported by TOI last month.
India is deploying four Sukhoi-30MKI fighters, along with two C-17 Globemaster-III strategic lift aircraft, one IL-78mid-air refueler and around 150 IAF personnel, for the exercise. Japan, in turn, will deploy F-2 and F-15 fighters, among assets.
“While women fighter pilots have been taking part in combat exercises held in India, this is the first time one of them will participate in such wargames abroad,” the officer said.
Squadron Leader Chaturvedi, who grew up in a small town near Rewa in Madhya Pradesh and then did a B.Tech in computer science from Jaipur, was among first three women to be commissioned into the IAF fighter stream after basic training in June 2016. It shattered the deep-rooted combat-exclusion policy for their gender in the Indian armed forces.
There are now 17 women fighter pilots in the IAF. Squadron Leader Chaturvedi and her course-mate Bhawana Kanth now fly the Russian-origin Sukhois at the Jodhpur airbase. Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, in turn, has become the first woman to tear into the skies in the spanking new French-origin Rafale omni-role jets as part of the 17 `Golden Arrows’ Squadron in Ambala.
With it taking over Rs 15 crore to train a single fighter pilot, IAF had for long resisted inducting women in the combat stream because it felt it would disrupt “tight fighter-flying schedules” if they got married and had children.
But that is a thing of the past now. There are also over 145 women helicopter and transport aircraft pilots in the IAF, Army and Navy now. Almost 30 women officers have also been deployed on frontline warships, while another 100 have become trained military policewomen in the Army.
Women officers, however, are still not allowed to serve in the Army’s main combat arms like the infantry, armoured corps, mechanized infantry and artillery or on-board submarines in the Navy.