Meet Mohana Singh, first woman fighter pilot in LCA Tejas fighter fleet and Naari Shakti Awardee

Squadron Leader Mohana Singh scripted history by becoming the first woman fighter pilot to join the elite 18 'Flying Bullets' squadron, operating India's indigenously 'Made in India' LCA Tejas fighter jet's squadron.

According to news agency ANI, the officer was part of the recent exercise, 'Tarang Shakti' in Jodhpur, where she was part of the historic flight by three Vice Chiefs of the three forces. Her remarkable feat underscores the Indian Air Force's commitment to gender equality and empowerment.

Mohana Singh: Career, education and achievements

Mohana Singh is one of India’s first women fighter pilots. She was one of the three women pilots inducted in the fighter stream of the IAF.

She was among the three Flight Lieutenants who won 'Naari Shakti Award-2020'. The Indian Air Force had then posted on X, saying, "Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria CAS and Mrs Asha Bhadauria President AFWWA met and congratulated Flt Lt Avani Chaturvedi, Flt Lt Bhawna Kanth and Flt Lt Mohana Singh on being awarded 'Naari Shakti Award-2020'."

In 2019, Mohana Singh became the first IAF woman pilot to become fully operational by day on 'Hawk' aircraft.

She is part of No. 3 Squadron Cobras flying the MiG-21 at NAL Air Force Station, Bikaner. Up until recently, she was flying the MiG-21s and was recently posted to the LCA squadron deployed in Naliya air base in the Gujarat sector along the border with Pakistan, ANI reported.

“In IAF, we have embraced gender equality in the truest sense. The three of us work alongside our male colleagues to accomplish the tasks assigned to the squadron,” she was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying in 2023.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has around 20 women fighter pilots after the government opened the fighter stream for women in 2016. Mohana Singh's other two women compatriots, Sqn Ldr Bhawna Kanth and Sqn Ldr Avni Chaturvedi are now flying the Su-30 MKI fighter jets in the western desert.