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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
The Hindu Bureau

Dreams take wing: Army gets first woman combat pilot

Captain Abhilasha Barak becomes the first woman officer to join Army Aviation Corps as combat aviator after successful completion of the six month long Combat Army Aviation Course.

“She has been awarded the coveted wings along with 36 Army pilots today by Director General and Colonel Commandant Army Aviation Lt. Gen. A. K. Suri during a valedictory ceremony held at Combat Army Aviation Training School, Nashik,” the Army said on Wednesday..

Capt. Barak hails from Haryana and was commissioned into the Army Air Defence Corps in September 2018. She is daughter of Col. S. Om Singh (Retd). Captain Abhilasha has done a number of professional military courses before joining the Army Aviation Corps, officials stated.

Army Aviation Corps, the youngest Corps of the Army, was formed on November 01, 1986 and over the years has expanded with addition of new units and equipment like Cheetah, Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, weaponised ALH Rudra and Light Combat Helicopter. 

In August 2021, Army Aviation got control of the Army’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) which were earlier with the Artillery, bringing all aviation assets under one roof.

Since the standoff in Eastern Ladakh in 2020, the Army Aviation had seen a quantum jump in the employment of helicopter along the Northern borders.

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