More Women Combat Aviators in Indian Navy

Consequent to formal Government sanction for grant of Permanent Commission (PC) to Women Officers in the Indian Army, detailed administrative instructions have reportedly been issued to all affected women officers giving out guidelines for submission of applications for consideration by the Board. “Women Officers who have joined the Indian Army through the Women Special Entry Scheme (WSES) and Short Service Commission Women (SSCW) are being considered and all of them have been instructed to submit their application forms, option certificate and other related documents to Army HQ.”

On 21 September 2020, four women officers of the Indian Navy completed their Observer Course at INS Garuda, Kochi and will join service with frontline squadrons flying Sea Kings, Dhruvs and Dornier 228s. They are, in the photo from left to right, Sub Lt Afnan Sheikh, Sub Lt Kreeshma R, Sub Lt Riti Singh and Sub Lt Kumudini Tyagi.

According to ROSCOSMOS, the training of four Indian astronauts at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Russia has recommenced after some months “on hold” owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. In June 2020 “the Indian astronautselect passed training in short-term weightlessness mode abroad an Il-76MDK special laboratory aircraft, and in July, they were trained on board a helicopter while evacuating from the descent module landing point”.

According to the ROSCOSMOS, “regular courses comprise medical and physical training, learning Russian (as one of the main international languages of communication in space), and studying the configuration, structure and systems of the Soyuzcrewed spacecraft”. Further, it also includes training “in a centrifuge and hyperbaric chamber to prepare their organisms for sustaining space-flight factors, such as G-force, hypoxia and pressure drops”.