Women officers set to join Army's artillery wing, train to use howitzers, missile systems
"There is no change in training structure. They will be trained like their male counterparts." sources said.
FollowIn yet another milestone towards achieving gender neutrality in the defence forces, the first lot of women officers will join the Indian Army's artillery arm in May. About 35-40 women, who are being trained at the Officers' Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai, will participate in the Passing Out Parade (POP) to be held in the next two weeks.
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"Of them, about 20 per cent will join the regiment of artillery," sources in the defence establishment said. After their POP, the cadets will proceed on leave for about two weeks and then join their respective units next month.
For advanced training, these women officers will join Deolali-based Artillery School in Maharashtra for the Young Officers' course, where higher skills will be imparted to them to make them combatant fighters. The course would be for about six months.
"There is no change in training structure. They will be trained like their male counterparts." sources said.
Since the women officers are joining the artillery wing for the first time, they will be trained to use howitzers, and missile systems among other artillery weapons.
After infantry, the Regiment of Artillery is the largest arm of the Indian Army. The proposal to induct women officers in the artillery wing was sent to the government in January and got approved on March 20.
On March 31, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed Parliament that the government has approved the Army's proposal to induct women officers in the artillery regiments.
Prior to this, women were not allowed to join the infantry, mechanized infantry, armoured, and artillery wings of the organization. Currently, the artillery regiments have over 280 units operating a range of big guns and rocket systems.
With their induction, women gunners will soon 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.
It should be noted that the women officers have already been flying fighter aircraft 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.
