History was written with golden letters when 26-year-old Captain Abhilasha Barak became the first woman combat aviator in the Indian Army.
On Wednesday (25th May 2022), the Indian Army officer from Haryana successfully completed her six-month-long Combat Army Aviation Course to join Army Aviation Corps as a helicopter pilot. She was accorded with the Coveted Wings along with 36 Army Pilots by Director General & Colonel Commandant Army Aviation Lt. Gen. A. K. Suri during a valedictory ceremony held at Combat Army Aviation Training School, Nashik.
Captain Barak has been assigned to the second flight of the 2072 Army Aviation Squadron that operates the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
The wings to dreams
Grown-up in military Cantonments across India, joining the defence forces was a natural career choice for Captain Abhilasha Barak, who is the daughter of Col. S. Om Singh (Retd). The Captain was commissioned in the Army Air Defence Corps in September 2018.
While women officers in the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy have been flying helicopters for long, the Indian Army paved the way for women pilots in 2021 by starting the ‘Army Aviation course’. Till recently, women were only part of ground duty in the Indian Army.
To recruit women officers in Army Aviation, the Indian Army began the course in July 2021. Interestingly, there are 10 women fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force, out of which three women fighter pilots, Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi, and Mohana Singh joined the Indian Air Force together in June 2016.
Caption Barak is a part of the National Defence Academy (NDA) batch, which is set to induct its first batch of women cadets in June 2022. Notably, the Supreme Court opened the doors of the academy to women in a groundbreaking order in October 2021 along with making them eligible for permanent commission too.
Till November 2021, the Indian Army granted ‘Permanent Commission’ to 577 women officers since the Supreme Court verdict in February 2020.
“63 eligible Women Officers have been granted permanent commission as of November 25, 2021 in compliance with the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court,” Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhat said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
A Permanent Commission gives a full-time career in the Army till an officer retires. It simply means that if an officer gets selected through Permanent Commission entry, he/she can serve the nation up to the age of retirement (60).
Army Aviation Corps: The youngest Corps of Indian Army
Came into existence on November 01, 1986, Army Aviation Corps is the youngest Corps of the Indian Army. Over the years, it has expanded with the addition of new units and equipment like Cheetah, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, weaponized ALH Rudra, and Light Combat Helicopter.
Interestingly, the Siachen Glacier has been the final frontier for the Army Aviation Corps (AAC). Routinely, the officers of AAC operate at 20,000 feet and above on the extreme fringes of its flight envelope. The Cheetah helicopter has been carrying out yeoman service as the workhorse of the glacier.
In August 2021, Army Aviation Corps got control of the Army’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) which were earlier the part of the Artillery, bringing all aviation assets under one roof.
