In news- Captain Abhilasha Barak became the first woman officer to join the Army Aviation Corps as a combat aviator. It was described as a ‘Golden Letter Day’ for the Indian Army. Till now, the Army did not have women officers in the flying branch, unlike the Indian Air Force and the Navy.
About Army Aviation Corps-
- It was established on 1 November 1986, and was first deployed in India’s 1987 fight with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in Jaffna, known as ‘Operation Pawan’.
- They flew the HAL-developed Chetak and Cheetah helicopters.
- Army Aviation Corps pilots are drawn from other combat arms, including artillery officers.
- They also perform combat search and rescue (CSAR), artillery lift, combat transportation, logistics relief, military prisoner transportation and medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) in wartime and during natural disasters.
- The main roles of the choppers include observation, reconnaissance, casualty evacuations, load drops as well as search and rescue operations besides attack.
Source: The Hindu
