Two women officers to operate helicopters from warships

Breaking yet another glass ceiling, two women sub lieutenants on Monday became the first batch of women officers who would operate from the decks of a warship that hitherto remained a male bastion.

Sub lieutenants Kumudini Tyagi and Riti Singh were the first set of women airborne combatants who would be operating from warships.

Tyagi and Singh, along with 15 other officers, were awarded Wings on graduating as Observers at a ceremony at INS Garuda in Kochi on Monday.

Chief staff officer (Training) Rear Admiral Antony George, who presented the awards and Wings, said that it was a landmark occasion wherein for the first-time women are going to be trained in helicopter operations which would ultimately pave way for the deployment of women in frontline warships of Indian Navy.

“They would, in effect, be the first set of women airborne combatants who would be operating from warships. Earlier, entry of women was restricted to the fixed-wing aircraft that took off and landed ashore,” a navy spokesperson said.

“In an operation, the observers are practically the mission commanders, whatever may be their seniority,” said a navy officer.

Tyagi who hailed from Ghaziabad in UP is from a civilian background with her father being a pharmacist, Riti Singh is fourth-generation service personnel and daughter of a retired naval officer, said a defence spokesperson.

Sub-Lt Singh, whose father retired as a Commodore, is a fourth-generation military officer.

The officers were trained in air navigation, flying procedures, tactics employed in air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and exploitation of airborne avionic systems. They would serve on-board Maritime Reconnaissance and Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard.

The task of an observer (airborne tacticians) in combat is to operate the on-board sensors to identify targets like a submarine so that the pilot can fire the weapons. They would also operate the sonar console and the ISR (intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance) payload.

Eventually, they will fly as the supporting crew in the Indian Navy’s new MH-60R helicopters that are being procured from the US.

While the navy allowed women officers to fly as pilots in surveillance aircraft since 2017, they were still restricted to shore-based establishments. Absence of a proper crew separation facility and different wash rooms for males and females are the reasons that the navy cited as reasons for not permitting women officers on board the warships.

The new platforms that are under construction and trial at various shipyards have separate facilities for men and women.

The Indian Air Force, too, has identified a woman fighter pilot to fly its new Rafale fighter aircraft though her identity has not been disclosed. From three fighter pilots in 2016, the IAF has 10 women officers flying combat jets.

In December last year, Sub Lieutenant Shivangi joined operations as the first woman pilot of the Indian Navy.

As of February, 2020, the Indian Navy has 527 women officers whereas the IAF and the Indian Army have 1,601 and 1,648 of them respectively. The number of women officers recruited by the Navy in 2017, 2018 and 2019 is 57, 38 and 54 respectively.