New Delhi: Squadron Leader Bhawana Kanth has become the first woman officer of the Indian Air Force to graduate from the elite Fighter Combat Leader (FCL) course. She completed the 20-week programme at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior last week.
TACDE is widely known as the IAF’s equivalent of a “Top Gun” school. Only around 1% of IAF fighter pilots are selected for the highly competitive FCL programme, which trains pilots in advanced combat tactics, mission planning and battlefield leadership.
Graduates of the course are expected to lead complex combat missions and train other fighter pilots. Sqn Ldr Kanth returns to her operational unit as an in-house authority on weapons employment and air combat manoeuvring.
Journey began in 2016
Sqn Ldr Kanth hails from Darbhanga, Bihar, and trained as an engineer before joining the armed forces. She was commissioned as a flying officer in June 2016, becoming one of the IAF’s first three women fighter pilots alongside Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh.
The three were formally commissioned by the-then defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, marking the first time India’s fighter stream had been opened to women. Sqn Ldr Kanth joined her fighter squadron in November 2017 and flew her first solo sortie on a MiG-21 Bison in March 2018.
In May 2019, she became the first Indian woman to clear daytime fighter combat missions, flying the MiG-21 Bison. She has since transitioned to the Su-30MKI, one of the IAF’s most advanced fighter aircraft.
Sqn Ldr Kanth represented the IAF at the Republic Day parade in 2021, becoming the first woman fighter pilot to do so, and later took part in the Republic Day flypast in 2024. She was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2020 in recognition of her contribution to breaking gender barriers in combat aviation.
Sqn Ldr Kanth’s achievement follows other recent milestones by women officers in the force. Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh was awarded the Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) badge earlier this year, having piloted the president, Droupadi Murmu, in a Rafale fighter aircraft in October last year.
Separately, Squadron Leader Saanya became the first woman officer in the IAF to earn the Category-A QFI qualification. The IAF first opened its cockpits to women in 1994, when Flight Lieutenant Harita Kaur Deol flew solo. The force later saw Padmavathy Bandopadhyay become its first woman air marshal.
What TACDE does
TACDE was originally established as the Tactics and Combat Development and Training Squadron in 1971, and was renamed the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment in 1972. It is the IAF’s premier institution for developing operational air combat tactics and doctrine.
Besides training elite combat pilots, TACDE formulates tactical procedures, drafts standard operating procedures and evaluates newly inducted aircraft, radar systems and weapon platforms before they enter operational service. Its training extends beyond fighter pilots to transport aircraft crews, helicopter pilots, radar controllers and guided-weapons specialists.
The establishment also runs the Helicopter Combat Leader and Master Fighter Controller courses, covering air-to-air and air-to-ground operations, electronic warfare and integrated air defence.
TACDE is often compared internationally to the US Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor programme, popularly known as “Top Gun”. Its instructors are handpicked from among the IAF’s most experienced fighter pilots and controllers across the fighter, helicopter and radar-controller streams.
Sqn Ldr Kanth’s qualification places her among a small group of IAF officers trained to shape the force’s air combat tactics and lead its most demanding missions. Her career has been marked by a string of firsts: among the first women fighter pilots in 2016, the first woman cleared for day fighter combat in 2019, the first woman fighter pilot at the Republic Day parade in 2021 and now the IAF’s first woman Fighter Combat Leader.