Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh Becomes First Woman IAF Officer To Pilot Hawk Advanced Fighter Jet

In another milestone for gender equality in the armed forces, Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh of the Indian Air force has successfully piloted a Hawk advanced jet aircraft, becoming the first woman to do so reports India Today.

As per a statement from the air force, Singh landed the aircraft after participating in a 4-aircraft combat sortie, which took place in West Bengal’s Kalaikunda Air Force Station. This was the last stage of training on becoming fully operational on the Hawk fighters.

Singh has been trained to conduct both air-to-air as well as air-to-ground combat missions; she has taken part in a number of practice exercises including firing rockets, launching high-intensity bombs, among other things.

Moreover, to her credit Singh has more than 500 hours of flying time without incident, which includes 380 hours spent flying the Hawk Mk 132 fighter.

Just last week, another female Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth had also set a historical precedent by piloting the Mig-21 bison during daytime, becoming the first woman to do so.