First female Rafale pilot Shivangi Singh part of IAF team in Exercise Orion in France

ANI

New Delhi, April 26

Indian Air Force’s first female pilot to fly the Rafale combat aircraft is part of the Indian Air Force contingent taking part in multinational Exercise Orion in France.

The officer is in France to participate in the multinational exercise where India has sent its Rafale aircraft for the first time outside the country, IAF officers said.

The IAF had sent a woman fighter pilot for the first time to an international exercise in January this year when Squadron Leader Avni Chaturvedi went to Japan for the exercise Dharma Guardian.

Shivangi Singh joined the Indian Air Force in 2017 and was commissioned in the IAF’s second batch of women fighter pilots.

Before flying Rafale, Shivangi also flew MiG-21 Bison aircraft.

Shivangi hails from Varanasi and is part of the IAF’s Golden Arrows squadron based out of Ambala in Haryana.

In 2020, Shivangi Singh became the first woman fighter pilot to fly Rafale after she was selected as a Rafale pilot following a stringent selection process.