Commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2017 as part of the second batch of female fighter pilots, Singh currently flies the MiG-21 Bison, the force's oldest jet. Singh had a flying instructor, Commander Abhinandan Warthaman, who shot and captured Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jets near the Line of Control on February 27 last year.
Singh, a native of Varanasi, is undergoing conversion training, with a pilot switching from one plane to another. Once the training is over she will move from a border line in Rajasthan to join the 17 Squadron from Golden Arrow in Ambala.
A graduate of Banaras Hindu University, Singh was also a cadet of 7 UP Air Squadron in the National Cadet Corps. Then in 2016, she proceeded to the Air Force Academy (AFA) for training.
Currently, the IAF has 10 female fighter pilots and 18 female navigators. The total number of women officers serving in the Indian Air Force is 1,875. Flight lieutenants Avni Chaturvedi, Bhavna Kanth and Mohana Singh were the first women to be appointed as flying officers in the Indian Air Force fighter aircraft after basic training in June 2016.
Even as the report claimed on Wednesday that a female pilot had been selected to join the Rafale fighter fleet, the identity was not announced. Confusion erupted as Chau Jhingnu Namchu, a BJP MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, said on Twitter that Avni Chaturvedi will be the first woman pilot to join the Air Force's Rafale fighter fleet.
In 2018, flight officer Avani Chaturvedi flew a MiG-21 bison in her first solo flight and created history by becoming the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo.
Last week, Minister of State for Defense Shripad Naik told Parliament that women fighter pilots are inducted and deployed in the Indian Air Force (IAF) according to proposed action and diligence reevaluation.
On September 10, five French-built multirole Rafale fighter jets were inducted into the Indian Air Force's Golden Arrow Squadron at Ambala Air Force Base.
Ten Rafale jets have been delivered in India so far and five of them are back in France to train Indian Air Force pilots. Delivery of all 36 aircraft is expected by the end of 2021. The second batch of four to five Rafale jets is expected to reach India by November.
The Rafale jet, known for air superiority and precision strikes, is India's first major fighter aircraft in 23 years after importing the Sukhoi jet from Russia.
The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India on 29 July, almost four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France for the purchase of 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
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