IAF recruit to train as pilot at airbase once commanded by her dad
There have been several instances of fathers and sons joining the fighter stream, but the Singhs are the second case of a father-daughter fighter pilot pair
The daughter of one of the country’s top fighter pilots has joined the Indian Air Force’s fighter stream, and will soon head for further training at a premier airbase in the eastern sector that was earlier commanded by her father, a serving air commodore — a rare occurrence in the air force that opened the fighter stream to women only eight years ago, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

Muskaan Singh, 24, has been commissioned as a flying officer in the IAF. Her father Air Commodore Ran Singh holds a key post in the Air Headquarters in Delhi. She was among the 204 cadets (including five women assigned to the fighter stream) who graduated from the elite Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal, Hyderabad, on December 14 after the successful culmination of their pre-commissioning training in the flying and ground duty branches of the IAF, the world’s fourth largest air force.
There have been several instances of fathers and sons joining the fighter stream, but the Singhs are the second known case of a father-daughter fighter pilot pair in the air force, said one of the officials cited above, asking not to be named. Muskaan is a third-generation military officer — her grandfather served in the army. The family hails from Haryana’s Bhiwani district.
In 2022, fighter pilots Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and Flying Officer Ananya cemented their place in the country’s military aviation history by becoming the first father-daughter pair to fly in a formation of jets. The two officers flew in a formation of British-origin Hawk-132 advanced jet trainers (AJTs) at the Bidar airbase in Karnataka.
Muskaan, who completed one year of training on the Swiss-origin Pilatus PC-7 Mk II trainer at AFA, will head to the Kalaikunda air force station in West Bengal in early February to train on the Hawk AJTs for a year, before she joins a fighter squadron, said a second official. Air Commodore Singh commanded the Kalaikunda airbase during 2021-23. Muskaan attended Delhi’s Indraprastha College for Women before joining AFA.
Around 30 women have been commissioned as fighter pilots in the IAF after the government cleared their induction into the fighter stream in 2016, a watershed in India’s military history. That, however, was only an experimental scheme that was converted into a permanent one in February 2022.
The IAF has opened all frontiers for women and is giving them opportunities on a par with their male counterparts. In December 2023, the IAF inducted them in its non-officer cadre for the first time as 153 Agniveervayu (women) passed out from the Airmen Training School Belagavi, Karnataka. They were among the 2,280 recruits inducted into the service.
The IAF has allowed also women officers to join the elite Garud commando force, provided they meet the criteria for selection. Also in 2023, a woman officer, Group Captain Shaliza Dhami, took charge of a front-line IAF missile squadron near the India-Pakistan border for the first time.
Earlier this year, Squadron Leader Mohana Singh became India’s first woman Tejas fighter pilot, with the IAF assigning her to the No. 18 ‘Flying Bullets’ Squadron based at Naliya in Gujarat. Mohana, one of India’s first women fighter pilots, was previously serving in the No. 3 ‘Cobras’ Squadron at the Nal fighter base near Bikaner and flying the MiG-21 Bison aircraft.
Apart from IAF’s latest Rafale jets, the IAF’s women pilots are also operating the MiG-21s, Sukhoi-30s and MiG-29 fighters.
Women in uniform are no longer on the fringes but are being assigned central roles on a par with their male counterparts. They are flying fighter planes, serving on board warships, performing command roles, being inducted in the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) cadre, eligible for permanent commission, and undergoing training at the premier National Defence Academy.
To be sure, tanks and combat positions in the infantry are still no-go zones for women. They were permitted to join the armed forces outside the medical stream for the first time in 1992, then to fill only limited roles in limited streams for a limited time as short service commissioned officers.
Women stole the limelight at the 75th Republic Day parade on January 26, 2024, with ample representation in every element of India’s biggest ceremonial event including the flypast, mechanised columns, marching contingents, bands and the cultural extravaganza --- the celebrations centred around the Nari Shakti theme.
Fifteen women pilots, including six fighter pilots, took part in the flypast.
