NEWS:
In a reply to Lok Sabha on December 4, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said: “The Government has approved entry of women pilots into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on an experimental basis for a period of five years.” He further stated that women pilot trainees currently undergoing Stage-I training at the Air Force Academy would be assessed for their suitability for the fighter stream and those selected will undergo Stage-II training accordingly. Upon successful completion of Stage-II, the first batch of women trainees would be commissioned into the fighter stream in June 2016. Induction of women into the IAF as fighter pilots cleared by the government, is a historic move for the armed forces which had so far dithered over combat role for women.

VIEWS:
Women have been flying combat aircraft successfully in a number of countries of the world such as the US, UK, France, Turkey, Israel, China and even Pakistan. Coincidentally, on the day that the Lok Sabha was informed of the decision by the Indian Government, the US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter also announced that his government had moved even further and decided to open to women all positions including frontline combat roles in the armed forces. Said Defense Secretary Carter “We cannot afford to cut ourselves off from half the country’s talents and skills. We have to take full advantage of every individual who can meet our standards.”

The US Air Force inducted its first woman fighter pilot Col Jeannie Leavitt in 1993. About the same time, the US Navy commissioned Lieutenant Kara Spears Hultgreen as the first carrier borne combat pilot. Unfortunately she died soon after in a crash at sea while flying the F-14 Tomcat. The UK followed suit in 1994 and today in the Royal Air Force (RAF) there are 10 women fighter pilots flying the Eurofighter Typhoon or Tornado jets in combat missions. RAF women combat pilots flying the Tornado are reported to have flown hundreds of operational missions over Afghanistan as part of Britain’s offensive against the Taliban. A female fighter pilot of the RAF led the first aerial combat mission into Iraq operating from an RAF base in Cyprus. It was a highly dangerous mission over territory in Northern Iraq held by the ISIS. In Israel, women pilots had flown combat missions during the Israeli War of Independence but thereafter women were excluded from combat flying. This restriction was lifted in 1995 following which the first woman to earn wings in 2001 as a fighter pilot was Lt Roni Zuckerman. Closer home, in June 2013, Flight Lieutenant Ayesha Farooq, one of the 19 female pilots in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), became the first female pilot to be a part of the fighter stream flying the Chinese made F-7PG. Tragically, in November this year, Marium Mukhtiar, another Pakistani female fighter pilot in the PAF succumbed to her injuries sustained during ejection from a combat aircraft following a serious emergency in the air.

A woman going into combat is neither without precedent nor alien to Indian culture or tradition. After all, in 1858, the Rani of Jhansi, went into the battlefield on horseback with sword in hand and her infant son strapped to her back to take on the British who were on the offensive. Tragically, the Rani and her son were both martyred. She had left instructions with her soldiers that in case she dies in battle, her body must be burnt immediately and that under no circumstances should the British soldiers be able to get hold of it.

But the community of veterans in the IAF is clearly divided on this issue. While most have welcomed the move, some are sceptical. One has even described the initiative by the IAF supported by the Ministry of Defence as a “hair brained idea”. The argument put forward to support this view is that training of a fighter pilot up to operational status is indeed an expensive affair and once a woman soon after being trained as a fighter pilot gets married and is in the family way, she cannot continue to fly fighter aircraft at least for a couple of years if not more rendering investment in her training wasteful. As and when she is in a position to return to flying combat aircraft, she would once again be required to undergo refresher training thus adding to initial cost of training. From the point of view of the principle of return on investment, the proposal does not appear to be worthwhile.

There is also an apprehension and genuinely so about the fate of a woman fighter pilot shot down over enemy territory and is captured alive. To obviate this possibility, there is a suggestion that women fighter pilots should be employed only in the air defence role or other missions within the boundaries of the nation.

In the final analysis it is really not a contest of skills between male and female fighter jockeys as female pilots flying transport and helicopters in the IAF have adequately proved their mettle and in no way are they less competent than their male counterparts. The latest move to induct them into the fighter stream of the IAF will indeed be inspiring as well as challenging for the future generations of women who aspire to “Touch the Sky with Glory” and a positive development in respect of their emancipation and fulfilment of aspirations!