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Indian women officers to take part in Saudi defence show
Women officers participating in the show represent the three services - one is a fighter pilot, another a combat engineer & third is serving on board a warship.
Projecting Nari Shakti (woman power) beyond the country’s shores, India has sent a three-member delegation of women officers holding front line roles in the armed forces to take part in the World Defense Show 2024 being hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh to showcase the future of defence through technological developments from around the globe, officials aware of the matter said on Monday.
The Indian women officers participating in the show, being held from February 4 to 8, represent the three services -- one is a fighter pilot, another a combat engineer and the third serving on board a warship, the officials said, asking not to be named.
They are Indian Air Force’s Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth, Indian Army’s Colonel Ponung Doming and Indian Navy’s Lieutenant Commander Annu Prakash, HT has learnt.
The show provides a unique platform for the world’s defence industry to network, partner, share knowledge and discover new innovations and capabilities across all defence domains, the organisers say. It is being attended by top military leaders, government officials and defence industry captains.
Kanth, who currently flies a Sukhoi-30 fighter jet, was among the first three women to be commissioned into the IAF as a fighter pilot in 2016.
Doming’s unit is constructing a high-altitude road in Ladakh’s Demchok sector to provide connectivity to one of the military’s farthest outposts in the sensitive sector, Fukche, which is just 3 km from the Line of Actual Control. Her unit is also spearheading a key project to upgrade an advanced landing ground near LAC in eastern Ladakh to a full-fledged base for fighter operations. Prakash, a naval air operations observer, is one for the first women officers in the navy to be serving on board a front line destroyer, INS Kochi.
Kanth will on February 7 take part in a panel discussion on ‘Investing in an Inclusive Future’ that will focus on gender diversity and representation of women at all levels across the defence domain. The other speakers in Kanth’s panel include Major General Adel Al-Balawi, head of the armed forces, education and training authority at the Saudi ministry of defence and Air Marshal ME Sampson of the UK Royal Air Force. Reema Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, will spearhead the ‘International Women in Defense’ programme at the show.
The world is watching how India’s women are projecting Nari Shakti and proving their mettle in every field, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the National Cadet Corps rally on January 27, a day after women stole the limelight at the 75th Republic Day parade.
An all-women tri-service contingent consisting of Agniveers (recruited for the short term in the personnel below officer rank cadre under the Agnipath scheme), led by women officers, took part in the parade for the first time. Also, 15 women pilots, including six fighter pilots, were a part of the spectacular fly past. They flew Rafales, Sukhoi-30s and helicopters.
Women in uniform are no longer on the fringes but are being assigned central roles on par with their male colleagues. They are flying fighter planes, serving on board warships, performing command roles, being inducted in PBOR cadre, eligible for permanent commission, and undergoing training at the National Defence Academy.
Women were in the driver’s seat at the Republic Day parade and 80% of all activities involved them, including the heralding of the parade by 112 women artistes playing a variety of Indian musical instruments from across the country and the Vande Bharatam cultural extravaganza involving 1,500 women. The national flag was also unfurled on the arrival of President Droupadi Murmu by a woman officer, amid the roar of a 21-gun salute.
