NEW DELHI, INDIA - The Navy broke the mould today by inducting women aviators in its combat wing. Sub Lt Seema Rani Sharma and Sub Lt Ambica Hooda (in SNS picture), were awarded their wings today by Rear Adm Sudhir Pillai, Flag Officer Naval Aviation, at a passing-out ceremony in Kochi.

The 22-year-old officers were part of a mixed batch of four sub-lieutenants chosen for the First Short Service Commission Observer Course (SSCOC). This is for the first time that Naval Aviation, 56 years after its inception, has inducted women combatant officers as Observers on board its fleet of Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA). Sub Lt Sharma and Sub Lt Hooda, the Navy's first women observers (airborne tacticians), were selected for Short Service Commission and initially trained at the Indian Naval Academy for naval Orientation Course followed by Observer School located at INS Garuda here.

Commanding officer of INS Garuda, Captain Vijesh Kumar Garg, said it was really a proud moment for Indian Navy to have the two women officers. Addressing the parade, Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai said the country was acquiring the state-of-the-art airborne platforms, potent weapons and the best of the sensors for the Navy and it was for the observers to exploit them in the best possible way. He also exhorted them to be fully conscious of their role as the 'Eyes and Ears of the fleet'.

Meanwhile, the government is not too happy with the recent remarks by the vice-chief of the Indian Air Force, Air Marshal P K Barbora, pertaining to women pilots as well as his attack on the political class, blaming it for delay in modernisation and procurement of arms for the defence forces. Though the defence ministry is keeping a low profile on the issue, highly placed sources indicated that 'in due course the needful would be done'.