Indian Army got its first woman combat aviator. 26-year-old Captain Abhilasha Barak created history. She joins the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) unit and will be flying the Rudra.
On Wednesday, Barak was awarded the Coveted Wings along with 36 army pilots by the Director-General and Colonel Commandant Army Aviation in a ceremony held at the Combat Army Aviation Training School in Nashik.
Hailing from Haryana, Barak was commissioned into the Army Air Defence Corps in 2018. An alumnus of The Lawrence School in Sanawar, she graduated with B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Delhi Technological University in 2016. Following which she was placed at Deloitte, USA.
While she was commissioned into the Indian Army, Captain Barak was selected as a Contingent Commander for Presentation of Colours to Army Air Defence by President Ram Nath Kovind. In an interview, she mentioned how she owes her life to the Army. She said, “Not many people know this, but in 1987, during Operation Meghdoot, my father was leading a patrolling party from Amar Post to Bana Top Post. Owing to bad weather, he suffered from Cerebral Odema and was brought back to Amar Post, from where he was evacuated right in time. He owes his life to the Army Aviation Corps and hence, so do I.”
The internet is all praises for the Captain.
“Somewhere in my heart, I always knew that the day was not far away when Indian Army would start inducting women as combat pilots,” she said in an interview. And now Captain Abhilasha Barak is living her dream.
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