New Delhi: Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth of the Indian Air Force (IAF), who was among the first batch of women fighter pilots in the country, has achieved another milestone.
She has become the first woman fighter pilot to complete the prestigious Fighter Combat Leader (FCL) course at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior.
The 20-week programme is among the IAF’s most challenging advanced combat courses and is conducted for a select group of fighter pilots. Completing the course enables pilots to lead complex air combat missions and places them among the Air Force’s frontline combat tacticians, as reported by News18.
TACDE, which conducts the course, is considered the IAF’s premier centre for operational air combat training. Its instructors include some of the service’s most experienced fighter pilots and controllers.
Squadron Leader Kanth hails from Bihar’s Darbhanga district and is an engineering graduate who joined the IAF in June 2016 as part of India’s first batch of women fighter pilots. She was commissioned alongside Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh.
Kanth has been part of several milestones for women in military aviation. In 2019, she became the first Indian woman to be cleared for undertaking daytime fighter combat missions.
Her latest achievement marks another major step in the increasing participation of women in the IAF’s combat stream and highlights their growing role in advanced operational and leadership positions.