Two women officers receive ‘instructor' badges for remotely piloted aerial system

Time of India

24-05-2025

Nashik: After achieving the feat of training women officers in combat aviation, the Nashik-based Combat Army Aviation Training School (CAATS) has now presented 'instructor' badges to two women for the first time, qualifying them to be trainers for remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS) in combat aviation.
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Two women officers Major Isha Thakur and Major Jagmeet Kaur, who are flying officers, have become 'qualified flying instructors' (QFI), making them eligible to train officers in 'combat aviation'.
Isha Thakur from Himachal Pradesh, whose father runs a hotel and mother a teacher, is the first from the family in the defence, while Jagmeet Kaur's father and grandfather had served in the armed forces.
"It is an achievement for us to be instructors for RPAS, which is gaining strength in operations.
We are glad as this will help us to attack installations of the enemy with minimal risk," said Major Isha Thakur.
Addressing the gathering after the presentation of trophies to the flying officers, who completed the course, Lt Gen Vinod Nambiar, DG and Col Commandant of the Army Aviation Corps, said manned and unmanned teams handling combat and combat support roles were on the horizon and CAATS was preparing to meet future requirements.
"Certainly, more manned platforms transforming into unmanned ones is on the horizon, as witnessed in recent global conflicts. Concepts like manned-unmanned teams, where all combat and combat support roles of army aviation will be augmented by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is evolving," said Lt Gen Nambiar.
"We will have combat pilots transforming into combat system operators with capabilities to fly, control, and operate manned and unmanned aerial platforms simultaneously," the officer noted, adding he was confident that the aviators of today would embrace it with open arms so as to be able to dominate the battlefield of tomorrow.
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"CAATS is at the forefront of manifesting new operational concepts. The successful introduction of manned-unmanned team training in advanced combat training course is one such example. CAATS is effectively contributing to transformation and operational optimisation process currently under progress in the Indian Army," the officer said.
CAATS is a premier training institution of the Indian Army that imparts basic and advanced flying training to officers.