The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks fourth amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflict. It was officially established on 8 October 1932.

All wings of the Indian Armed Forces allow women in combat roles (junior ranks) and combat supervisory roles (officers), except Indian Army (support roles only) and Special Forces of India (trainer role only) (c. 2017). Indian Air Force had 13.09% and 8.5%, Indian Navy 6% and 2.8% women, and Indian Army 3.80% and 3% in December 2018 and December 2014 respectively.

As of 2020, three officers have been granted the rank of three-star general of above, all of whom are from the Medical Services. In May 2021, 83 Women were inducted as Jawans for the first time in the Indian Army, the Jawans were taken in the Corps of Military Police.

Some of the most inspiring Lady Officers are as follows:

• Avani Chaturvedi

Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi (born 27 October 1993) is an Indian pilot from Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh. She was declared as the first woman combat pilot along with two of her cohorts, Mohana Singh Jitarwal, and Bhawana Kanth. The trio was inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron in June 2016. They were formally commissioned by then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 18th June 2016, to serve the nation.

She was trained at Hyderabad Air Force Academy and completed training at the age of 25. After completing one year of training, she became a fighter pilot in June 2016. In 2018, Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman pilot to take a solo flight in a MiG-21.

In 2018, she was honored with the doctorate degree from Banasthali Vidyapeeth.

On 9 March 2020, Chaturvedi was awarded with Nari Shakti Puraskar by President Ram Nath Kovind.

• Wing Commander Khushboo Gupta

Wing Commander Khushboo Gupta was commissioned in the IAF as a helicopter pilot in June, 2007. She has extensive operational flying experience in the North East and the Ladakh areas, including the Siachen Glacier, the highest battleground in the world. She is a Qualified Flying Instructor and an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. She was born and brought up in Delhi, and studied at the Montfort Senior Secondary School. After her 12th, she started her flying training on a Cessna at the Safdarjung Airport in Delhi, after clearing exams for a student pilot’s license. She pursued her graduation from the University of Birmingham with a BA (Hons) in hospitality and business management. On returning to India, she applied to join the IAF. She cleared the SSB and joined training at Dundigal, Hyderabad, in January 2006.

• Mohana Singh Jitarwal

Mohana Singh Jitarwal is one of the first female fighter pilots of India. She was declared as the first female combat pilot along with two of her cohort, Bhawana Kanth, and Avani Chaturvedi. All three women pilots were inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron in June 2016. They were formally commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. After the government of India decided to open the fighter stream in India Air Force for women on an experimental basis, these three women were the first to be selected for the program.

She is completed her schooling from The Air Force School, New Delhi and BTech in Electronics & Communication from Global Institute of Management and Emerging Technologies, Amritsar, Punjab. Her father Pratap Singh is a serving Indian Air Force personnel and mother Manju Singh is a teacher. While growing up, Singh was fond of sports like roller skating, badminton and other activities like singing and painting.

• Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena

Gunjan Saxena (born 1975) is an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer and former helicopter pilot. She joined the IAF in 1994 and is a 1999 Kargil War veteran. She is the one of two women IAF officers to be part of the Kargil War, making her the second woman IAF officer after Srividya Rajan, her colleague, to go to war (also listed as “one of the first women to fly in a combat zone”).She is the first of two women along with Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan from the IAF to enter a war zone flying Cheetah helicopters.

Saxena was born into an Army family. Her father, Lt Col Anup Kumar Saxena and brother Lt. Col. Anshuman both served in the Indian Army. Saxena graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi in New Delhi.

In the Kargil War, as part of Operation Vijay, apart from evacuating the wounded, she helped transport supplies to troops in the forward areas of Dras and Batalik. She also was assigned surveillance roles such as mapping enemy positions. She had to deal with makeshift landing grounds, heights of 13,000 to 18,000 feet and enemy fire. She was one of the ten pilots, and the only female pilot, based in Srinagar that flew hundreds of sorties during the war, evacuating over 900 casualties, wounded and killed. Saxena was the only woman in the Indian Armed Forces who flew into war zones in the Kargil War. In 2004, her career as a helicopter pilot ended after serving for seven years. Permanent commissions were not available during her time in service.

• Flight lieutenant Bhawana Kanth

Bhawana Kanth is one of the first female fighter pilots of India. She was declared as the first combat pilot along with two of her cohort, Mohana Singh, and Avani Chaturvedi. The trio was inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron in June 2016. They were formally commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. After the government of India decided to open the fighter stream in India Air Force for women on an experimental basis, these three women were the first to be selected for the program.

Kanth was born on 1 December 1992 in Darbhanga, Bihar. Her father Tej Narayan Kanth is an electrical engineer in Indian Oil Corporation and mother Radha Kanth is a home maker. While growing up, Kanth was fond of sports like Kho Kho, Badminton, swimming and painting.

All these women who are mentioned above are an inspiration for other young women to come forward and join the forces.