Indian Navy First Women Pilots : Writing a new chapter, the Indian Navy has prepared its first batch of three female pilots for the Maritime (Marine) Reconnaissance (MR) mission on the Dornier aircraft. The defence spokesperson said that Lt Divya Sharma, Lt Shubhangi Swaroop and Lt Shivangi are now ready to go on all MR missions on the Dornier aircraft. They carried out operations on Dornier aircraft by Southern Naval Command (SNC).
The spokesperson said the three women pilots were among the six pilots of the 27th Dornier Operational Flying Training (DOFT) course, who earned a bachelor’s degree as a fully operational marine reconnaissance (MR) pilot in the passing out held at INS Garuda on Thursday.
Rear Admiral Antony George, Chief Staff Officer (Training) of SNC was the chief guest of the event and awards were given by him to pilots who are now fully qualified to fly Dornier aircraft for all operational missions. Lieutenant Divya Sharma is from Malviya Nagar in New Delhi, while Lieutenant Shubhangi Swaroop is from Tilhar in Uttar Pradesh. Lieutenant Shivangi is from Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
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They underwent flight training partially with the Air Force and partially with the Navy prior to the DOFT course. Lt Shivangi was the first woman to qualify as a naval pilot, out of the three female pilots who flew for MR pilots. After 15 days, two others – Lt Divya Sharma and Lt Shubhangi Swaroop also became pilots.
After this, a batch of them was formed and among the six pilots who were included in the 27th DOFT course, this phase was the most important. According to a Navy release, Lt Divya Sharma and Lt Shivam Pandey were declared first in flying and first in-ground subjects respectively. They received a bachelor’s degree as a fully operational Marine Reconnaissance (MR) pilot in the passing out held at INS Garuda on Thursday.
