​Group Captain Shaliza Dhami 1st woman to command frontline IAF combat unit

NEW DELHI: Group Captain Shaliza Dhami is now all set to take over the command of a frontline combat unit facing Pakistan in the western sector, the first woman to do so in the IAF, even as 18 women officers are now soaring high in supersonic jets as fighter pilots in the force.
Shattering yet another glass ceiling in the overwhelmingly male-dominated environs of the armed forces, Group Captain (equivalent to Army Colonel) Dhami will take over the reins of a surface-to-air missile squadron in Punjab on March 27. Commissioned into the IAF as a helicopter pilot in 2003, Group Capt Dhami is a qualified flying instructor on Cheetah and Chetak choppers with over 2,800 hours of flying experience.
"Before being selected by the IAF as the first woman ever to take command of a frontline combat unit, she also served as the flight commander of a helicopter unit in the western sector. She has also been commended by the air officer commanding-in-chief on two occasions," an officer said. There are 18 women who are flying fighters like MiG-21s, MiG-29s, Sukhois and new Rafales in the IAF, while the Navy has deployed 30 women officers on frontline warships.

18 women now flying fighters like Sukhois & Rafales in IAF
Group Captain Shaliza Dhami is now all set to take over the command of a frontline combat unit facing Pakistan. There are 18 women who are flying fighters in the IAF. There are also over 145 women helicopter and transport aircraft pilots.
Dhami's selection to command a combat unit comes at a time when 108 women have also been approved for promotion to the Colonel (select) rank for the first in "combat-support arms" and services like the Corps of Engineers, Signals, Ordnance, EME and other such branches after getting permanent commission in the Army, as was first reported by TOI.

"Apart from some who have low medical category or have expressed their unwillingness, many of them are progressively taking command of their units. Of them, around 50% are deployed in the highly-operational Northern and Eastern Commands," another officer said. While women are still not allowed to join the infantry, armoured corps and mechanised infantry, the Army is now moving ahead to commission women officers in the artillery, which has over 280 units handling a variety of howitzers, guns and rocket systems.
While women officers have been inducted into the armed forces since the early-1990s, they number just over 3,900 in their 65,000-strong officer cadre. There are separately around 1,670 women doctors, 190 dentists and 4,750 nurses in the military medical stream.
Watch Meet Group Captain Shaliza Dhami, the first woman in Indian Air Force history to command Combat Unit