Captain Abhilasha Barak on Wednesday became Indian Army’s first woman combat aviator after completing the combat army aviation course.
Military brat Abhilasha hails from Haryana and has been awarded the Coveted Wings along with 36 Army Pilots by Director General & Colonel Commandant Army Aviation during a valedictory ceremony held at the Combat Army Aviation Training School in Nashik.
“While growing up in military Cantonments, and being surrounded by people in uniform, it always seemed like an ordinary affair. I never realised it (that it was different) until our family moved out of the military, after my father’s retirement in 2011. The feeling only grew stronger after seeing my elder brother’s passing out parade at Indian Military Academy in 2013. That was the moment I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Captain Abhilasha said in an in-house interview shared by the Indian Army.
Captain Barak was commissioned into the Indian Army Air Defence Corps in September 2018. She was also selected as a Contingent Commander for Presentation of Colours to Army Air Defence by President Ram Nath Kovind.
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Such a brilliant student Captain Barak attained, ‘A’ grading in Army Air Defence Young officers course and passed the promotional exam, Part B, in her first attempt.
Captain Barak did her schooling from The Lawrence School, Sanawar, and did graduation in B.Tech (Electronics and Communication Engineering) from Delhi Technological University in 2016. She was later placed at Deloitte, USA.
“After completing my training from Officers Training Academy, Chennai, in 2018, I opted for Army Aviation Corps. As I was filling the form, I knew I was eligible for only the ground duty role but I ended up mentioning that I had qualified the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test and computerised pilot selection system. Somewhere in my heart, I always knew that the day was not far away when the Indian Army would start inducting women as combat pilots,” she also said in an interview.
Once an intituion now became reality to Captain Barak after 2 years when the induction of women as pilots was announced. It is to be noted that earlier only ground duties were allotted to women in the Army Aviation Corps.
