Breaking Through Limitations, First Time in India Two Women Naval Aviators Selected as Airborne Combatants

By: WE STAFF | Wednesday, 23 September 2020

A woman can do anything, and this is not just a proverb. Two officers, Sub Lieutenant (SLt) Kumudini Tyagi and SLt Riti Singh has just proved it. The Indian Navy has announced that for the first time, two women officers will operate flying missions from warships. Usually, the Navy deploys women staffers in logistics and medical wings on-board fleet tankers, but it will be for the first time they will be onboard destroyers and frigates. The two officers, SLt Kumudini Tyagi and SLt Riti Singh, are now a part of a group of 17 officers of the Indian Navy, including four women officers and three officers of the Indian Coast Guard (13 officers of Regular batch and 4 women officers of Short Service Commission batch) who were awarded ‘wings’ as ‘observers’ on Monday at a ceremony in Kochi. The Navy, on its part, proudly announced that SLt Kumudini Tyagi and SLt Riti Singh will be the first women ‘airborne combatants’ to operate from warships.

It is expected that the two officers will eventually fly on the navy’s new MH-60 R helicopters, 24 of which are on order. Widely considered the most advanced multi-role helicopters of their class in the world, the MH-60R is designed to detect enemy ships and submarines which can be engaged using missiles and torpedoes. In 2018, then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had cleared the acquisition of the Lockheed-Martin built choppers in a deal estimated at $2.6 billion.

“We can’t wait to be on board warships. This is the ultimate opportunity to finally move into the front-line role of naval operations,” says SLt Riti Singh. She is also a fourth generation armed forces officer.

“We’ve been treated equally. Whatever training our male counterparts received, we went through the same training. It is a huge responsibility, the task is challenge. We are looking forward to it,” Sub Lieutenant Tyagi.

The Chief Guest also awarded the ‘Instructor Badge’ to six other officers, (five from the Indian Navy including a woman and another from Indian Coast Guard) who had successfully graduated as Qualified Navigation Instructors (QNI) on the occasion. The statement quoted Rear Admiral saying “The fact that it is a landmark occasion wherein, for the first time, women are going to be trained in helicopter operations, which would ultimately pave the way for the deployment of women in frontline warships of Indian Navy.” It added that officers of the 91st Regular course and the 22nd SSC Observer course were trained in air navigation, flying procedures, air warfare, anti-submarine warfare and exploitation of airborne avionic systems.

Till now, women have only been allowed on fixedwing aircraft like P-8Is and Dorniers, which take off and land ashore. The Navy, however, for now has no plans to allow women on board submarines also. The process has to be gradual because it will pose administrative and operational challenges. There are also infrastructure constraints because the majority of Indian warships are cramped, with no separate bathrooms, cabins and other facilities for women.