 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Friday, Nov 20, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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National
NEW DELHI: The government has not appreciated the remarks of a high ranking officer alluding to the reluctance of the Air Force to induct women as fighter pilots. Sources in the top echelons are of the view that the stated policy of the government is clear that the IAF’s doors areopen for induction of women in non-combat operations. This requires no further elaboration. In any case, the sources said, the official briefing was on the issue of the President’s flight in a Sukhoi-30 MKI, and there was little need to drift to other issues. Earlier this week, Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal P.K. Barbora said that while the issue was not of competence, the idea of having women fighter pilots who get married was not feasible, as restrictions come in from the time they go the family way. He argued that the decision was more on grounds of economics, as the government spent nearly Rs.11 crore to train a fighter pilot and the investment was recovered over a period of 13 to 14 years. In the case of woman officers, the IAF puts them off-duty for 10 months from the time of pregnancy. He suggested that while women fighter pilots could get married, they may consider waiting for some time before raising a family. He also mentioned that another issue of concern was what would happen if women were taken as prisoners of war in combat operations. Air Marshal Barbora said that while the United States had women fighter pilots, they were deployed in Afghanistan, which was not a combat zone in the military sense of the term. “Even Israel does not expose women pilots to combat operations,” he said, adding that for India having trained women fighter pilots for long, if the IAF was not able to deploy them to their full potential, “then we lose on both sides.” China inducted women fighter pilots who put up a display during the National Day Parade last month. Russia, France and United Kingdom are some of the other countries that have women fighter pilots.
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