<p>Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kant – one of the first three women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force – has just added another feather to her cap by becoming the first Indian woman to qualify as a MiG-21 Bison pilot by day.</p>.<p>“On May 21, she became the first women fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft,” said an IAF official.</p>.<p>The trio of Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh graduated from the IAF academy in Dundigal in December 2016 and subsequently proceeded to specialised fighter training. Bhawana joined the fighter squadron in November 2017 and flew the first solo on MiG-21 Bison in March 2018.</p>.<p>“With her dedication, hard work and perseverance, she has become the first women officer of the IAF to achieve this feat,” the official said.</p>.<p>Kant is likely to take another 4-6 months to be trained to fly the MiG-21 Bison at night. The first phase of training would be flying in moonlit nights followed by flying in dark.</p>.<p>Bhawana, Avani and Mohana volunteered for the fighter stream after the NDA government ended a gender-based combat exclusion policy in October 2015. For the first time, women were permitted in a combat role in any branches of the military in India.</p>.<p>Combat flying by women in the IAF happened 25 years after the service commissioned the first batch of 10 women officers.</p>.<p>Currently, IAF has more than 1,500 women officers including about pilots for fighter, transport and helicopter operations. The service also has women trained for flying helicopters in Siachen glacier, which is an equally arduous and challenging task.</p>.<p align="JUSTIFY">A year after the after the first batch another batch of three girls – Rashi Raina, Shivangi Singh and Pratibha – were picked up for the second batch of women fighter pilots. However, one of them met with an accident during her initial training phase.</p>
<p>Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kant – one of the first three women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force – has just added another feather to her cap by becoming the first Indian woman to qualify as a MiG-21 Bison pilot by day.</p>.<p>“On May 21, she became the first women fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft,” said an IAF official.</p>.<p>The trio of Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh graduated from the IAF academy in Dundigal in December 2016 and subsequently proceeded to specialised fighter training. Bhawana joined the fighter squadron in November 2017 and flew the first solo on MiG-21 Bison in March 2018.</p>.<p>“With her dedication, hard work and perseverance, she has become the first women officer of the IAF to achieve this feat,” the official said.</p>.<p>Kant is likely to take another 4-6 months to be trained to fly the MiG-21 Bison at night. The first phase of training would be flying in moonlit nights followed by flying in dark.</p>.<p>Bhawana, Avani and Mohana volunteered for the fighter stream after the NDA government ended a gender-based combat exclusion policy in October 2015. For the first time, women were permitted in a combat role in any branches of the military in India.</p>.<p>Combat flying by women in the IAF happened 25 years after the service commissioned the first batch of 10 women officers.</p>.<p>Currently, IAF has more than 1,500 women officers including about pilots for fighter, transport and helicopter operations. The service also has women trained for flying helicopters in Siachen glacier, which is an equally arduous and challenging task.</p>.<p align="JUSTIFY">A year after the after the first batch another batch of three girls – Rashi Raina, Shivangi Singh and Pratibha – were picked up for the second batch of women fighter pilots. However, one of them met with an accident during her initial training phase.</p>
