Mohana Singh Scripts History: Becomes First Woman Fighter Pilot To Fly Indigenous Tejas Jet

Mohana Singh Jitarwal Flew MiG-21s Before Tejas

Up to now, the 32-year-old flew MiG-21s and now she would handle the Tejas. Clearly, she continues to raise the bar for aspiring female pilots. To recall, in June 2016, she was one of the first three women pilots to be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter fleet, formally commissioned by the then Defence Minister the late Manohar Parrikar. Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvedi were the other two to be selected for the government of India's program that announced the opening of the fighter stream for women. Currently, the Force has roughly 20 women fighter pilots.

Mohana, a Jhunjhunu native, took part in the second phase of the 'Tarang Shakti' exercise in Jodhpur. There, she was involved in a historic flight alongside the three Vice Chiefs of the Armed Forces: Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh, Lieutenant General NS Raja Subramani, and Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan. At the time, she was seen instructing the Army and Navy Vice Chiefs aboard the LCA Tejas fighter jet and assisting them in getting ready for it.

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Held from August 30 to September 13, the multi-phase military exercise had countries like Australia, Greece, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Japan, Singapore, and the United States in attendance. Meanwhile, the first phase was organised at the Sulur Airbase in Tamil Nadu from August 6 to 14 and saw the presence of countries like France, Germany, Spain, and the UK.

Mohana Singh Jitarwal Is A Nari Shakti Puraskar Recipient

Before now and in 2016, Mohana cracked the headline in 2019 also. That year, she was the first women fighter pilot to be completely operational by day on a Hawk Mk.132 advanced jet trainer at Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka. She had achieved over 380 hours of incident-free flying on the aircraft. On March 9, 2020, President Ram Nath Kovind accorded her with the Nari Shakti Puraskar.

During an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mohana said that her father and grandfather were in the defence forces, so she always wanted to be in a uniform. After completing schooling at The Air Force School, in New Delhi, she pursued a BTech in Electronics & Communication from the Global Institute of Management and Emerging Technologies, Amritsar.

Mohana's incredible feat surely underlines the IAF's allegiance to gender equality and empowerment.

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Image Credits: DD News