Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi is set to become the first woman fighter pilot to be part of war games outside India. Squadron Leader Chaturvedi will be part of the Indian contingent for the aerial war games to be held in Japan.
India and Japan will hold their first bilateral air exercise ‘Veer Guardian 2023’ from January 12 to 26, at the Hyakuri Air Base and its surrounding airspace in Omitama, and the Iruma Air Base in Sayama in Japan.
She will be leaving for Japan shortly for participating in the exercise.
Who is squadron leader Avani Chaturvedi?
▶️Chaturvedi was part of the first batch of three women to be commissioned as fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force.
▶️She is a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter pilot based in Jodhpur
▶️Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo when she flew a MiG-21 bison on her first solo flight in 2018.
▶️Chaturvedi, along with her batchmates Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, was commissioned as a flying officer in July 2016, less than a year after the government decided to open the fighter stream for women on an experimental basis.
▶️Chaturvedi, Kanth and Singh have emerged as the most recognisable faces of women in the IAF after being assigned to the fighter stream over the years.
▶️Avani Chaturvedi was born in Madhya Pradesh. Before joining the IAF, she underwent six months of intensive training at the Air Force Academy in Telangana’s Dundigal.
▶️A native of Satna’s Kothikanchan village, Chaturvedi’s family now resides in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa.
▶️Chaturvedi’s father Dinkar Prasad is an engineer with the Bansagar project, while her mother is a housewife. Her elder brother is an army officer. It was the flying officer’s brother, Nirabh, who inspired her to join the force.
‘Veer Guardian-2023’
India and Japan will hold their first bilateral air exercise in reflection of the growing defence ties amid increasing concerns over China’s military muscle flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.
The exercise ‘Veer Guardian-2023’ involving the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) will be held at Japan’s Hyakuri air base.
The IAF said on Saturday that its deployment at the exercise will include four Su-30 MKI jets, two C-17 aircraft and one IL-78 plane, while the JASDF will be participating with four F-2 and four F-15 aircraft.
India and Japan agreed to step up bilateral defence cooperation and engage in more military exercises, including holding of the first joint fighter jet drills, during the second ‘2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial’ dialogue in Tokyo in September.
The upcoming exercise is seen as another step in deepening strategic ties and closer defence cooperation between the two countries.
“The inaugural exercise will include the conduct of various aerial combat drills between the two air forces. They will undertake multi-domain air combat missions in a complex environment and will exchange best practices,” the IAF said.
(With PTI inputs)
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