Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh to become the first woman fighter pilot of India to fly the Rafale combat aircraft that was formally inducted into the Indian Air Force(IAF) September 10, 2020. She hails from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. She is one of the 10 Indian women fighter pilots in IAF.
Note– Five Rafale Aircrafts were formally inducted into the IAF’s 17 Squadron ‘Golden Arrows’ on September 10, 2020 at a function held at Air Force Station, Ambala (Haryana).
Points to be Noted
i.IAF is the first Force to allow women officers in combat. It has the highest percentage of female officers.
ii.IAF has 18 women navigators. Total women officers in IAF is 1,875.
iii.Cost around Rs 15 crore is required to train a single fighter pilot.
Key Info
i.Flight Lieutenants Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh became the 1st women to be commissioned as flying officers into the IAF fighter stream.
ii.They shattered the social prejudice of the long-standing combat-exclusion policy for women in the IAF.
About Shivangi Singh
i.Shivangi Singh was among the 2nd batch of women fighter pilots who were commissioned in 2017.
ii.After joining IAF, she has been flying the MiG-21 Bison aircraft. Currently, she is undergoing training and will soon join Golden Arrows.
Additional Info
i.India had ordered 36 Rafale jets from France for a deal worth of Rs 59,000 crore in September 2016.
ii.Till now, 10 Rafale jets have been delivered to India and 5 of them are in France to impart training to IAF pilots.
iii.Second batch of 4 to 5 jets is expected to arrive in India by November. By the end of 2021, all 36 aircraft will be delivered.
Recent Related News:
On 24th August 2020, Indian Air Force(IAF) Chief of the Air Staff(CAS) Air Chief Marshal (ACM)Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, launched the mobile application “My IAF”, to provide career related information and details in IAF to the aspirants. The application was launched as a part of the ‘Digital India Initiative’.It was developed in association with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
About Indian Air Force(IAF):
Chief of the Air Staff (CAS)– Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria,
Motto– Touch the sky with Glory
