“I am sure that the women will perform, if not better, at least at par with men if they are taken as fighter pilots. But the issue is larger, it is about women in combat and lot of studies need to be done on this,” Naik said.
“Some American studies show that they are thinking of reversing taking in women for combat,” he said.
“The findings of the study have not yet been made public, they consider psychological and medical profile among other factors,” he said.
Naik said that the chiefs of the three armed forces have discussed the issue. “Any decision should be combined. All three chiefs have discussed this and we think we need more studies.”
“Unlike US or Australia, we have land borders and any war-like activity is within 15 to 20 km of the border. What if a woman has to eject and she lands in enemy territory? We don't doubt their capabilities but these are the issues of concern,” he added.
Published 10 March 2011, 14:13 IST