Shivangi Singh: Know about India's first woman Rafale pilot

Shivangi Singh, first woman Rafale pilot: She is the first woman pilot to fly a Rafale jet and is the second female fighter jet pilot to be part of IAF's Republic Day tableau on 26 January 2022 (Wednesday). Bhawna Kanth was the first woman to take part in the IAF Republic Day tableau in 2021.

Country's first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is a part of the Indian Air Force tableau as the @IAF_MCC band and marching contingent marches down the Rajpath#RepublicDay #RepublicDayIndia pic.twitter.com/n35YZ0xp4F

— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 26, 2022

Yesssss! You Show them Shivangi! You’re our RafaleRani 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽 https://t.co/gwJA7YuLC1

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 26, 2022

IAF's tableau theme

This year's IAF tableau theme was 'Indian Air Force, transforming for the future.' The tableau came on Rajpath, followed by the march past in 12 rows and 8 columns, showing scaled-down models of Rafale fighter jet which is indigenously developed light combat helicopter (LCH) and 3D surveillance radar Aslesha MK-1. The tableau also featured a scaled-down model of MiG-21 aircraft that played a major role in the 1971 war.

About Shivangi Singh

In 2017, she joined the IAF and was commissioned in the IAF's second batch of woman fighter pilots.

Before flying Rafale, she flew MiG Bison aircraft.

She became the first woman fighter pilot to fly Rafale in 2020 and was selected as a Rafale pilot following a stringent selection process.

She took her conversion training and became a part of 17 Squadron, Golden Arrows, in Ambala.

On 29 July 2020, the first batch of Rafale fighter jets arrived which was nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of around Rs 59,000 crore.

As per the official, 32 Rafale jets have been delivered to the IAF so far and four are expected by April this year.

When did Shivangi get wings at Air Force Academy (AFA)?

She and another flight cadet Pratibha from Rajasthan received wings during the Combined Graduation Parade of Pilots and Ground Duty Officers at Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal near Hyderabad in December 2017.

After completing her schooling and graduation, she joined 7 UP Air Squadron NCC at Banaras Hindu University to fulfill her dream.

She cleared the common aptitude test and went to the Air Force Academy for training around July 2016. 

At a crucial time, she was inducted into the Golden Arrows Squadron when Rafel jets were being fully operationalised.

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