In a first, five women Navy officers undertake surveillance mission in Arabian Sea

Five women officers of the Indian Navy have undertaken the first all-women reconnaissance and surveillance mission in the Arabian Sea in a Dornier-228 aircraft, breaking yet another barrier for women in the military.

While the mission commander was Lt Cdr Aanchal Sharma, a trained observer, the aircraft was piloted by Lt Shivangi and Lt Apurva Gite. The team also had Lt Pooja Panda and Sub Lt Pooja Shekhawat as the two Tactical and Sensor Officers in her team.

The five officers from the Porbandar-based naval aviation unit INAS-314 took off on Monday morning and surveyed the northern part of the Arabian Sea for a long time before returning to the base.

“They had received months of ground training and comprehensive mission briefings in the run-up to this sortie,” said an officer.

Lt Shivangi was among the first batch of qualified women Dornier pilots of the navy.

The first-of-its-kind flying mission was unique and is expected to pave the way for women officers in the aviation cadre to assume greater responsibility and aspire for more challenging roles, the Indian Navy said in a statement. A navy spokesperson said it was a unique achievement for the armed forces as a crew of only women officers undertook an independent operational mission in a multi-crew maritime surveillance aircraft.

As of March 2022, the Indian Navy had 559 women officers including 10 pilots. In October 2020, the Service received its first batch of women aviators qualified to fly the Dornier aircraft. The Navy has also begun to deploy women officers onboard warships.

On Wednesday, the Indian Navy completed the registration process for the Agnipath Recruitment Scheme for recruiting sailors and ground staff. The Service received 9.55 lakh Agniveer applications including 82,200 women.

This will be the first time that positions of Personnel Below Officers' Rank (PBOR) will be open to women in the Indian military.