Squadron Leader Priya Sharma, one of the first women pilots to operate on front-line fighter squadron platforms, has recently become the second female fighter pilot to fly the the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas.
Squadron Leader Mohana Singh Jitarwal was the first female fighter pilot to fly LCA Tejas.
Squadron Leader Priya Sharma, a 2018 graduate of the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, is the seventh woman fighter pilot commissioned in the Indian Air Force (IAF). She was among the pilots who took part in the ceremonial MiG-21 flypast during the decommissioning of the fighter jet.
For more defence news, views and updates, visit: Fortress India
She now flies with No. 18 Squadron 'Flying Bullets' which operates the Tejas.
Sq Leader Priya Sharma hails from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district and is an engineer by qualification. She followed the footsteps of her father to become an IAF officer.
According to an Indian Express report, Squadron Leader Priya Sharma was inspired to become a fighter pilot from a young age, having grown up watching SEPECAT Jaguar and BAE Systems Hawk jets in action while her father was stationed at the Air Force base in Bidar.
She stood out as the sole woman in the 2018 fighter pilot batch of the IAF and was initially assigned to the Hakimpet Air Force Station in Hyderabad. She later moved to the Bidar Air Force Station in Karnataka, where she completed her Phase II and Phase III advanced training.