"Performed All Missions With Ease": India's Only Female Rafale Pilot On Ladakh Standoff

Amid the ongoing standoff with China along the Northern borders, Indian Air Force's first and only female Rafale fighter pilot Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh praised the performance of her aircraft in the high-altitude area. "I have flown in that area and we have carried out all the missions entrusted to us with utmost ease," Flight Lieutenant Shivangi told ANI. She was asked about the performance of the Rafale in the ongoing standoff with China in eastern Ladakh and other areas along the LAC.

Ms Singh represented the Indian Air Force in the exercise Orion in France where forces of many other major countries including the US, UK and France along with various other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) also participated. Asked about her participation in the multinational exercise, she said, "It was a great experience where I got an opportunity to meet the fighter pilots of different countries."

Ms Singh said that the Indian pilots learnt about the environment in which other countries fly versus the way Indian pilots fly. Flight Lieutenant Shivangi added that she also got the opportunity to interact with female pilots of other participating nations d which was a great learning curve for her.

She is the first female Rafale fighter aircraft. Commissioned in 2017 in the second batch of women fighter pilots, Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is the only female pilot in the two squadrons of the Rafale aircraft deployed in Ambala and Hashimara in West Bengal near the China border.

The Indian Air Force inducted the Rafale fighter aircraft in 2020 only a few months after the standoff with China began. All 36 aircrafts that India contracted for in a deal worth over Rs 60,000 crore have arrived and are fully operational.

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