Shubhangi Swaroop, from Uttar Pradesh, who was inducted as the first woman pilot in the Indian Navy on Thursday, will soon be flying Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft. Shubhangi Swaroop is the daughter of a Naval commander.
Before Shubhangi, the Navy’s Aviation branch has had women officers operating as air traffic control officers and as ‘observers’ in the aircraft, who are responsible for communication and weapons, said Southern Naval spokesperson Commander Sreedhar Warrier.
Shubhangi will be trained at the Air Force Academy at Hyderabad which trains pilots of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, said Warrier.
Along with Shubhangi, three other women cadets, Astha Segal from New Delhi, Roopa A from Puducherry and Sakthi Maya S from Kerala, also created history on Thursday by becoming the country’s first women officers at the Naval Armament Inspectorate (NAI) branch of the Navy.
The NAI branch is responsible for auditing and assessing the state of weapons and ammunition of the Navy.
All the four will be undergoing subsequent professional training in their respective chosen branches before being employed on duty, Commander Warrier said.
In the passing out ceremony of Ezhimala Naval Academy, around 328 cadets of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and two overseas cadets from Tanzania and Maldives passed out after completing their course.
These two overseas cadets and 20 women cadets from the Indian Navy took part in the passing out parade reviewed by the Indian Naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba.