IAF’s 1st Woman Rafale Fighter: ‘Machine Does Not Consider Gender And Only Executes The Instructions Given To It’

India’s first female Rafale jet pilot, Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, believes the machine does not recognise gender and only follows commands. She also described how, during her training, she was treated on an equal footing with her male coworkers. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Shivangi Singh shared her thoughts.

She told ANI, “The machine doesn’t recognise gender; it operates based on the data supplied to it.” “I believe that hard work pays out handsomely.” Singh also mentioned the similarities between her and her male teammates’ training, saying, “The experience of being a fighter pilot has been fascinating and rewarding.” The fighter training was difficult. High-end technology absorption necessitated a lot of effort on my part. “I’ve been training in the same way as my male colleagues.”

Shivangi Singh is the second woman fighter pilot in the IAF Tableau.
It should be noted that Shivangi Singh took part in the 73rd Republic Day procession. Prior to Singh, the Indian Air Force (IAF) had only one female fighter pilot on its roster. The Indian Air Force was the first to accept female officers into combat roles.

Singh, a Varanasi local, joined the IAF in 2017 and flew the MiG-21 Bison before being recruited into the IAF’s Golden Arrows Squadron. She was part of the Air Force’s second wave of female fighter pilots. She graduated from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and joined the National Cadet Corps as a cadet of the 7 UP Air Squadron (NCC). Along with Shivangi Singh, the IAF has three other female flight lieutenants: Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth, and Mohana Singh. They are the first group of female fighter pilots. The Indian Air Force has commissioned ten female fighter pilots since 2016.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has the most female officers among the Indian Armed services. The IAF has 1875 female officers as of September 2020, including 10 pilots and 18 navigators. Vijayalakshmi Ramanan was the IAF’s first female officer. She was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps and later transferred to the Air Force. In 1979, she retired from the Air Force as a Wing Commander.