Aastha Poonia set to be Indian Navy's first woman fighter pilot

Sub Lieutenant Aastha Poonia is set to be Indian Navy first woman fighter jet pilot. The officer received the prestigious 'Wings of Gold' and became the first woman to be streamed into the Fighter stream of Naval aviation. India has operated aircraft carriers for several decades, but all Naval fighter jet pilots have been male officers. Henceforth, on completing her one-year training, Aastha Poonia will create history as India's first Naval woman fighter pilot. At present, women officers pilot helicopters, maritime reconnaissance aircraft of the Navy, and they serve as Naval air Operations Officers(system operators), among other roles.

On 3rd July, the Indian Navy celebrated the graduation of the Second 'Basic Hawk
Conversion Course' at INS Dega, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. INS Dega is a naval air station of the Indian Navy, under the Eastern Naval Command. On the graduation of the course, Rear Admiral Janak Bevli, ACNS, Air, presented the coveted 'Wings of Gold' to Sub Lieutenants Atul Kumar Dhull and Aastha Poonia. The ‘golden wings’ symbolizes a naval pilot's ultimate transition from training to operational readiness.

At present, India operates the Russian-origin aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, both of which operate the Russian-origin Mig-29K fighter jet. The K-variant of the Mig-29 features more powerful engines than other variants, it has foldable wings for easy storage on the carrier deck or hangar, the aircraft has a reinforced undercarriage for handling the stresses of landing on decks of aircraft carriers. The K-variant also has a tail hook, a mechanical device that latches onto arrestor wires on the carrier deck, enabling the jet to come to a quick halt on the short, floating runway.

Carrier aviation is a highly challenging domain, given that pilots have to takeoff and land their jets from an airfield that is moving, rolling (tilting sideways), and pitching(tilting up and down). While typical land-based runways are longer than 3,000meters, carrier-deck runways are barely 150-200meters in length, which makes the operation of fighter aircraft highly challenging. Even under such circumstances, naval fighter aviators and helicopter pilots operate from carrier decks in day and night conditions, under all-weather scenarios.

To augment its naval fighter aviation capabilities, the Indian Navy is procuring 26 French-origin Rafale-Marine fighter jets from Dassault aviation. The Indian Air Force has been operating 36 Rafales, and the future induction of Navy's Rafales would make India's Rafale fleet a total of 52 jets.