Mohana Singh becomes first female pilot cleared to fly fighter jet Tejas

Squadron Leader Mohana Singh has made history as the first female fighter pilot in the country to be cleared to fly the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas fighter jet.
She was the first woman fighter pilot to be inducted into the fighter squadron approximately eight years ago.
Mohana Singh, along with Avni Chaturvedi and Bhawana Kanth, was part of the trio of female pilots in the Air Force’s fighter streams. In the early days, the three pilots flew various aircraft from the Air Force’s fighter fleet. Currently, they are flying the regular fleets of Su-30MKi and LCA Tejas
According to news agency ANI, the officer participated in the recent ‘Tarang Shakti’ exercise in Jodhpur, where she was involved in a historic flight alongside the three Vice Chiefs of the Armed Forces.
The Tarang Shakti is a multi-phase military exercise that has already witnessed France, Germany, Spain, and the UK participating during the first phase, held from August 6 to 14 at the Sulur Airbase in Tamil Nadu.
The second phase took place at Air Force Station Jodhpur from August 30 to September 13 this year. Countries such as Australia, Greece, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Japan, Singapore, and the United States participated.
Indian Air Force (IAF), the world’s fourth-largest air force, currently accounts for around 20 women fighter pilots.
The service opened its fighter stream to women, a watershed in India’s military history, in 2016. It has opened all frontiers for women and is giving them opportunities on a par with their male counterparts.
On December 2 last year, the IAF inducted them into its non-officer cadre for the first time as 153 Agniveervayu (women) passed out from the Airmen Training School Belagavi, Karnataka. The Passing Out Parade of the first batch of women Agniveers in the Air Force was held on December 2 after they completed four months of training under the short-service scheme Agnipath.
They were amongst the 2,280 recruits inducted into the service. IAF also allowed women officers to join the elite Garud commando force, provided they met the criteria for selection.
Agniveers are cadets appointed to the Army wings under the Agnipath scheme, a short-term service youth recruitment. This intake of Agniveervayu was inducted into the Air Force in June 2023.