India’s First Female Fighter Pilot For LCA Tejas

The pictures of Mohana Singh Jitarwal will go down in the history as she became the first woman pilot flying the home built LCA Tejas fighter plane. She is one of the three women in the history of IAF to be admitted into the fighter squadron. this marks a new phase in the armed forces’ integration of women. Mohana has been recognized with the prestigious Naari Shakti Puraskar for her extraordinary contributions to women empowerment.

Breaking Barriers in the Skies

Thus, in 2016 the IAF opened its fighter pilot branch for women, and this was significant step forward in the direction to gender parity in the Indian defence sector. Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi made the history of being the first women to get the opportunity of joining the IAF’s fighter squadron along with Mohana Singh. Mohana has had a rather inspiring path to becoming a pilot; she had to undergo intense training and commanding to be able to maneuver the LCA Tejas – a highly technologically developed combat plane.

Mohana’s accomplishment also marks the ‘shattering of glasses’ in several gender stereotypes not only in the military but in all masculine industries. She will always remain a source of inspiration on the need for youthful women to take up challenging careers hitherto considered the preserve of men only in Kenya.

The Naari Shakti Award

When a woman is treated equally she deserves honours. As a result, Mohana Singh was presented with the Naari Shakti Puraskar, which is the highest honour for women in India. It is an honor that seeks to recognize women who have gone out of their way to empower women and empowers the change of stereotype norms. This denotes Mohana’s persistence, effort and the importance of such influential figure in inspiring females behind the cockpit.

This paper therefore seeks to establish the importance of LCA Tejas.
The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas stands as ideological embodiment of India’s growth in Defence manufacturing and indigenization’. Beside that, as the first woman flying this aircraft, Mohana also helps to establish India’s talent and locally developed technology in the world. That she can pilot the LCA Tejas is a clear pointer that the Indian armed forces are opening up for talent and merit, without necessarily considering gender.

Conclusion

Mohana Singh’s story and her journey is a true story of courage, hard work and of defying odds. Being a fighter pilot for the Indian Air Force and the first woman to be part of the LCA Tejas fighter aircraft team and a Naari Shakti awardee, she is the new-age empowered Indian woman. This is a story that will go down in history encouraging many other women and men to aim high and make the impossible possible.