Women fighter pilots, at last

At last, glass ceiling has broken. Government unlocks cockpits of IAF fighter jets for women pilots. Triggering a gender revolution through the barrel of gun, the Modi government is allowing combative women a fighting role in the Indian Air Force. Presently, women pilots fly transport aircraft and helicopters. The step is in keeping with aspirations of Indian women and is in line with contemporary trends in the professional ambience.

Not only this, in future induction of women in the armed forces, both in short services commission and permanent commission is in the offing. This opens the possibility that women will be allowed to serve on board warships of the Navy and in select ground combatant units of the Army.

By deciding to put women in fighter jets, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have ended a debate that had occupied the establishment at least since the 1999 Kargil war. The debate on allowing women in combat roles was shaped not only by questions of culture but also by the dictates of operational environments. The top brass have worried whether Indian men can accept women as commanders and whether they can temper the macho military environment in which risqué language is often used.

In an operational situation, women combatants would also be expected to be capable of, say, evacuating casualties under fire like men. But, above all, the debate was shaped by worries over how the citizenry would respond to the Indian women combatants landing in a hostage situation. For example, if a woman fighter pilot is shot down in enemy territory and taken prisoner of war, what would the public response be? In the Kargil war, one pilot who was shot down in Pakistani territory was killed and another taken prisoner. But in the same war, women flying helicopters on medical evacuation missions took many soldiers to safety from the front.

So far so good. What about laissez faire maintenance forced by limited budgets and cannibalized spare parts, we make up for in pilots? Aircrashs occur due to loss of control in a possibly badly-maintained system. Our years of dependence on third-rate trainers have cost us millions and the lives of far too many young men. The Indian-made fighter jet Tejas is a disaster and probably ranks as the worst experiment in modern jet fighter history. The aircraft has over 50 recognised flaws and is already obsolete. Scrap it.

If we put these women to the test in this aircraft — perish the thought, I shudder to imagine the fallout from that scenario. Even if we put them in MiG 21s, perish the thought. Even our Su-30 Flankers number only 200 instead of the slated 272. Six have been lost, with the main suspect being poor trainer aircraft and questionable maintenance.

The governments — whether Congress or BJP — have little concept of how weak our Air Force is. We have only 34 squadrons instead of the required 42, and much of our fleet is beaten to death. The 36 Rafale jets from France is a deal that yo-yos pathetically between yes, maybe, yes, no, yes, no, we will, we won’t until everyone gives up and no one knows what is happening. All we do know is that our Air Force is behind the curve.

Meanwhile Pakistan keeps building its frontline strike force. We keep waffling. Whether for men or women, we need to recreate our Air Force in a 21st century mould... Or face the consequences.

By Javvadi Lakshmana Rao