Indian Navy gets first batch of women pilots for Maritime Reconnaissance missions

Indian Navy got its first batch of women pilots for Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) missions on Dornier aircraft. The pilots completed Dornier Operational Flying Training (DOFT) on October 20 at INS Garuda in Kerala's Kochi.

They were operationalised by the Southern Naval Command (SNC) and have been identified as Lieutenant Shubhangi Swaroop, Lt Divya Sharma and Lt Shivangi.

The three women pilots were part of six pilots who underwent the 27th Dornier Operational Flying Training (DOFT) course. Upon completion of the course, they graduated as fully operational MR Pilots at a ceremony held at INS Garuda on October 22.

Prior to DOFT course, the three women pilots had undergone basic flying training with the Indian Air Force as well as the Indian Navy. The nine-month-long DOFT course comprised one month of ground training followed by eight months of flying training at INAS 550, the Dornier Squadron of the Southern Naval Command.

First of the three to have qualified as a pilot, Lt Shivangi hails from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

Meanwhile, Lt Shubhangi Swaroop hails from Uttar Pradesh's Tilhar and Lt Divya Sharma from Malviya Nagar in New Delhi.

#harkaamdeshkenaam
First batch of 03 women pilots of @indiannavy operationalised as MR pilots on Dornier a/c as they complete Dornier ops flg training (DOFT) with 03 male counterparts at INS Garuda, #SNC, #Kochi on 20 Oct 20.@SpokespersonMoD @DefenceMinIndia pic.twitter.com/tJFDg1vTgq — PRO Defence Kochi (@DefencePROkochi) October 22, 2020

In a tweet, the PRO Defence Kochi said, "First batch of 03 women pilots of @indiannavy operationalised as MR pilots on Dornier a/c as they complete Dornier ops flg training (DOFT) with 03 male counterparts at INS Garuda, #SNC, #Kochi on 20 Oct 20."

The Indian Navy also said in a press release that Lt Shivam Pandey and Lt Divya Sharma were adjudged First in Ground and Flying subjects, respectively.

(With inputs from PTI)