All-women crew creates history by completing first independent maritime surveillance

Indian Navy’s women officers have created history after they completed the first-ever all-women independent maritime reconnaissance and surveillance mission in the North Arabian Sea onboard a Dornier 228 aircraft. The mission was carried out by five officers of the Indian Navy Air Squadron (INAS) 314 based at Naval Air Enclave at Gujarat’s Porbandar. The aircraft was captained by the Mission Commander, Lt Cdr Aanchal Sharma, who had pilots, Lt Shivangi and Lt Apurva Gite, and Tactical and Sensor Officers, Lt Pooja Panda and SLt Pooja Shekhawat in her team. For this, the women officers received months of ground training and comprehensive mission briefings in the run-up to this historical sortie. This “first-of-its-kind military flying mission” is expected to pave the way for women officers in the aviation cadre to assume greater responsibility and aspire for more challenging roles.