Two women officers to join warships crew | Fusion - WeRIndia

In a breakthrough event, two navy women officers have been selected to join frontline warship’s crew of Indian Navy. The two women, Sub Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi and Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh will be the first women officers to join as airborne warriors to operate from warships.

The entry of women was restricted to the fixed-wing aircraft before this. Operating helicopters was seen as a man’s job due to many reasons. Lengthy operations, lack of privacy in staff quarters etc. are some of them.

But, now, the navy decided to deploy these two women officers to operate multi-role helicopters. Sonar consoles and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads are some among the other roles.

While Sub Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi hails from Ghaziabad, and Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh hails from Hyderabad. Both are engineering graduates. They were commissioned into the Navy in 2018.

Sub Lieutenant Riti Singh was motivated by her father and grandfather who served Navy and Army.

Sub Lieutenant Kumudini Tyagi was inspired to serve the Navy when she heard the death of Lt. Kiran Shekhawat in 2015. She wants to tackle challenges and that’s why she joined the navy.

These two women were among 17 Indian Navy officers. There are four women officers including them.

Other two women officers, Sub Lieutenant Afnan Sheikh and Sub Lieutenant Kreeshma R will operate fixed-wing aircraft of the Navy.

A ceremony was held on September 21 at INS Garuda, Kochi where they were awarded ‘Wings’ on graduating as ‘Observers’.

Rear Admiral Antony George presided the event. He presented the awards and coveted wings to the graduating officers.

He congratulated all the graduating officers and highlighted the importance of the event saying that in the history of the Navy, this is the first time women will receive training to operate helicopters. The training will open ways for women to be deployed in frontline warships of the Indian Navy.

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