Soon, Indian Army women officers will be seen handling and operating artillery guns alongside their male counterparts. (Representative photo courtesy: Krishna Chaitanya Velaga/Creative Commons)
New Delhi: After the Indian Army paved the path for women officers to take command posts in the rank of colonel in a bunch of arms and services, in January, the first batch of women officers will join the Army’s artillery arm in May as young combat officers. This comes after the government gave the green signal to the Army to induct women officers in the combat wings of the force.
Currently, about 35–40 women, who are undergoing training at the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, will participate in the passing-out parade (POP) to be held in next two weeks.
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Sources in the defence establishment said that about 20 per cent, or 7–8, of those women officers will join the Regiment of Artillery. After their POP, the cadets will go for leave for about two weeks and then join their respective units next month.
For advanced training, these women officers will join the Deolali-based Artillery School in Maharashtra for the Young Officers Course, where higher skills will be imparted to them to make them into combatants. The course would be for about six months.
The proposal to induct women officers in the artillery wing, was sent to the government this year in January, which got approved on March 20. On March 31, the junior defence minister, Ajay Bhatt, informed Parliament that the government has approved the Army’s proposal to induct women officers in the artillery regiments.
Before this development, women were not allowed to join combat arms in the Army, such as the infantry, mechanized infantry, armoured, and the artillery wings of the organization.
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Putting aside doubts over the training of women officers vis-à-vis their male counterparts, the sources said there would be no change in the training structure. They said the women officers will be trained in the same way their male counterparts would be trained without lowering any bar.
Since the women officers are joining the artillery wing for the first time, they will be trained to use howitzers, rocket systems among other artillery weapons.
After the infantry, the Regiment of Artillery is the largest arm of the Indian Army. Currently, the regiment has over 280 units operating a range of big guns and rocket systems.
With their induction, women can now be seen firing Bofors, M-777, Sharang, and Dhanush howitzers, in addition to K-9 Vajra self-propelled tracked guns and multiple rapid-fire rocket systems.
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It may be noted that the women officers have already been flying fighter jets in the Indian Air Force. Presently, a total of 17 women fighter pilots are flying warplanes, including Mig-21 Bisons, Sukhoi-30MKIs, and even Rafales. Besides, there are about 150 women helicopter and transport aircraft pilots in the force.
Similarly, the Indian Navy too has women officers in its combat fleet and many of them are serving on frontline warships.
