In the Spolight: Mohana Singh, First Woman Fighter Pilot of IAF's Elite 18 'Flying Bullets' Squadron

Squadron Leader Mohana Singh has created history by becoming the first woman fighter pilot to join the Indian Air Force's elite 18 'Flying Bullets' squadron, which operates the Indigenous LCA Tejas fighter jets. Singh has had a lucrative career with being a part of several IAF missions. 

Born in Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan, she hails from a nation servers family. Her father is an IAF warrant officer, and her grandpa was a flight gunner in the Aviation Research Center. She carried the legacy by etching her name as one of the first three women fighter pilots to join the IAF. She, along with Bhawna Kanth and Avni Chaturvedi achieved this feat in 2016. For this achievement, Singh even won the ‘Naari Shakti Award - 2020.’ 

While women have been flying helicopters and transport aircraft since 1991, it was only in 2016 that the government allowed women into fighter jet cockpits. Mohana Singh’s name again popped up when she became the first IAF women fighter pilot to become fully operational by day on a Hawk Mk aircraft in 2019.

She also took part in a major exercise called "Tarang Shakti", in Jodhpur, where she trained vice chiefs of the Indian Army and Navy on how to fly the LCA Tejas fighter jet. This project helped her get a position in the Air Force's 18 'Flying Bullets' squadron. But before joining the ‘Flying Bullets’ squadron she was previously flying MiG-21s, which are deployed at Naliya air base in Gujarat along the border with Pakistan.

With women like her, the Indian forces are getting stronger and more determined to include more of them. The IAF now has around 20 women fighter pilots since 2016, inspiring other female members to join in the mission and serve the nation.