Girl Power: Indian Air Force plans to induct women to fly fighter jets

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Thursday told The Indian Express that the IAF plans to induct women in its fighter stream. Raha’s statement marks a shift from his own words in 2012 when he had said that women are “physically not suited” for flying fighter jets. Raha says the IAF has sent the proposal to the defence ministry. He said that a larger transition would be to ultimately clear women to operate behind enemy lines. The proposal, if cleared, may pave the way for women in combat roles in all the three services. As of now, women are inducted into the armed forces in non-combat roles. In June 2010, the government had directed the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), a high level body consisting of the three service chiefs, to prepare a policy paper on induction of women in Armed Forces, the report said. The paper, which was submitted to the ministry in August 2011, recommended the induction of women “in all branches and streams except fighter streams of flying branch”. The report underlined the observation of a study carried out by HQ Integrate Defence Staff (IDS) which recommended against the induction of women in combat roles. This was followed by a long legal battle which compelled the Army and the Air Force to extend permanent commission to women in the “non combat” branches. There are close to 100 women pilots in the transport and helicopter branches of the IAF. Most recently, a group of 17 women Navy officers sought permanent commission in non combat branches of the Navy. Read the full story here.