Runs in the family: Fighter pilot father-daughter 1st in Indian military aviation to fly in formation

Fighter pilots Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and Flying Officer Ananya of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have cemented their place in the country’s military aviation history by becoming the first father-daughter pair to fly in a formation of jets, officials familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

Fighter pilots Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and Flying Officer Ananya of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have cemented their place in the country’s military aviation history by becoming the first father-daughter pair to fly in a formation of jets, officials familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

Runs in the family: Fighter pilot father-daughter 1st in Indian military aviation to fly in formation

The two officers flew in a formation of British-origin Hawk-132 advanced jet trainers (AJTs) at the Bidar airbase in Karnataka on May 30, but the unprecedented moment went unnoticed for weeks, until their photographs surfaced on Tuesday. The development came seven years after IAF decided to induct women into the fighter stream, a turning point for them in combat.

Sharma described flying in formation with his daughter as the “biggest day of his life”.

Ananya was commissioned into IAF as a fighter pilot in 2021, while her father, Air Commodore Sharma, joined the air force in 1989, said one of the officials cited above asking not to be named. There have been several instances of fathers and sons flying fighter jets together in IAF, but never a father and a daughter.

“As the first women fighter pilots of IAF entered service in 2016, Ananya realised that her lifelong dream was now a possibility. Having virtually grown up in IAF, there was absolutely no other profession that she could imagine being a part of,” said an official who knows the Sharma family. She was selected for training in IAF’s flying branch after completing her B Tech in Electronics and Communication.

Air Commodore Sharma has had an extensive experience of fighter operations, having commanded a MiG-21 squadron as well as a frontline fighter station, said the first official. Ananya is currently training on the Hawk AJT and is slated to graduate to faster and superior fighter aircraft of IAF, he said.

“It was a mission where Air Commodore Sharma and Flying Officer Ananya were more than just a father and daughter. They were comrades, who had full faith in each other as fellow wingmen would have,” the official added.

In February 2022, the government decided to convert the experimental scheme, announced in 2015, to induct women as fighter pilots into a permanent one. Around 20 women have been commissioned as fighter pilots after the experimental scheme for their induction into the fighter stream was implemented in 2016, a watershed in the air force history.

“Air Commodore Sharma and Ananya may have scripted bigger history as we haven’t heard of a father and daughter flying together in any global air force,” said Air Marshal Anil Chopra (retd), director general Centre for Air Power Studies.

The development reflects the giant strides women are taking in military aviation in India, and it will inspire more of them to join the armed forces, especially IAF, said Chopra.

In a video posted on Twitter by Disha, the official handle of the officers’ induction publicity cell of IAF, Air Commodore Sharma said, “Ananya always used to say, ‘Papa I want to be a fighter pilot like you.’ And after her commissioning when she came out as Flying Officer Ananya Sharma and saluted me, I was really proud. We flew in the same formation. It was the biggest day of my life.”

In the same clip, Ananya said, “As a child, I would often ask my father why IAF does not have women fighter pilots. And he would tell me in his characteristic style ‘don’t worry you will be one’.”

There have been several cases of fathers and sons flying fighter aircraft, said former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik (retd), whose son is a serving fighter pilot. “But a father-daughter fighter pilot pair flying together is extremely rare even globally,” he added.

New doors have been opened for women in the armed forces -- the navy is giving them more opportunities to serve on board warships alongside their male counterparts, the army has allowed them to fly helicopters, and they are eligible for permanent commission.

Apart from IAF’s latest Rafale jets, women pilots are also operating the MiG-21s, Sukhoi-30s and MiG-29 fighters. Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, the country’s first Rafale pilot, was part of the IAF tableau that featured in the Republic Day parade this year.

While women have now been allowed to fly fighter planes and serve on warships; tanks and combat positions in the infantry are still no-go zones. They were permitted to join the armed forces outside the medical stream for the first time in 1992.