Indian women to fly fighter planes from June 2016
The induction of women as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force was cleared on Saturday by the government in a landmark move for the armed forces which have so far dithered over combat role for women As per the plan, the first women pilots would be selected from the batch which is presently undergoing flying training at Air Force Academy After successful completion of ab-initio training, they would be commissioned in the fighter stream in June 2016 Thereafter, they would undergo advanced training for one year and would enter a fighter cockpit by June 2017, the Defence Ministry said in a statement "This progressive step is in keeping with the aspirations of Indian women and is in line with contemporary trends in armed forces of developed nations," it said The air force currently has about 1,500 women on its rolls of which 94 are pilots (helicopter and transport aircraft) and 14 navigators
