HIGHLIGHTS:
- India’s first female Rafale pilot is Shivangi Singh.
- Shivangi Singh was part of the second group of female fighter pilots to be commissioned. Before Rafale, she was a MiG-21 pilot.
- She is a member of the squadron known as the Golden Arrows.
What is in the News?
India’s first female Rafale pilot is Shivangi Singh. At the Republic Day celebrations, she was a member of the Indian Air Force Tableau. In 2017, she enlisted in the Indian Air Force. She is only the second woman pilot to take part in the Tableau of the Indian Air Force. Bhawna Kanth, a fighter jet pilot, was the first woman to take part in the IAF tableau.
Shivangi Singh’s Background
Shivangi Singh was part of the second group of female fighter pilots to be commissioned. Before Rafale, she was a MiG-21 pilot. She is a member of the squadron known as the Golden Arrows. Shivangi Singh was born in the Indian state of Bihar. Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology was where she earned her bachelor’s degree in technology. She continued her education at Jaipur’s Malaviya National Institute of Technology.
IAF Tableau
“Indian Air Force Transforming for the Future” was the topic of the 2022 IAF Tableau. The tableau included the Aslesha radar and indigenously produced Light Combat Helicopters. The Gnat aircraft was also displayed by the IAF.
Golden Arrows Squadron
Its headquarters is in Ambala, Punjab. Dassault Rafale jets were used to reconstitute the squadron in 2016. During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, it was relocated to Delhi to safeguard the capital. In 1988, the squadron was awarded the President’s Standard Award. The Harvard II B aircraft took part in the squadron in 1951. The squadron included a de Havilland Vampire in 1955. Hawker Hunter was a member of the squadron in 1957. It was the MiG-21 in 1975. It’s been Rafale since 2019.
Radar Aslesha
It’s a low-weight radar with a lot of features. It may be used in a variety of environments, including deserts, plains, high altitudes, and mountain peaks.
Gnat
The British came up with the idea for Gnat. It’s a fighter jet with a subsonic speed. It’s utilized for both warfare and training. Different squadrons in India fly the Gnat. They are two, nine, fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, and twenty-four. Finland and Yugoslavia also operate Gnat aircraft. India secured an agreement in 1956 to construct the planes in the country. The technology was then gradually taken up by HAL.
