India clears path for female fighter pilots

Reuters

India is opening the way for female pilots to fly fighter jets in combat, as one of the world’s biggest military forces shakes off its reluctance to give greater responsibilities to women, its Air Force chief announced in October 2015.

Several countries, from the United States to Israel, and even neighboring Pakistan, have women flying their fighter planes, but India’s military has kept them out of that role, as well as front-line warships and ground combat.

In recent years, however, Indian courts have pushed the military to widen opportunities for women, by giving them permanent commissions, for example, instead of limiting them to five-year terms. Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha said he expected the first female pilots to be commissioned within the next two to three years, following an Air Force proposal to the Defense Ministry.

“We have women pilots flying transport aircraft and helicopters,” he said at a parade to mark the 83rd anniversary of the Indian Air Force (IAF). “We are now planning to induct them into the fighter stream, to meet the aspirations of the young women.”

The step comes just a year after Raha turned down the possibility of putting women in that role, newspapers said, quoting him as having said women were unfit to fly fighter aircraft for long stretches.

The Air Force now faces a shortage of pilots, at the same time as it struggles to modernize its Soviet-era fleet. In April 2015, a parliamentary defense panel urged the government to tackle the IAF’s problems.

“Our squadron strength is already short of what has been authorized, and moreover, insufficiency in the number of available pilots further deteriorates our operational capabilities,” it said in a report.

India’s Army, with 1.1 million troops, ranks among the world’s largest. Its Air Force is about 120,000 strong, with 1,500 women, of whom 108 are transport and helicopter pilots.