Shaliza Dhami becomes first woman to command combat unit in IAF

This is the first time that a woman has been entrusted with the responsibility of leadership on the battlefield. Shaliza Dhami joined the Indian Air Force in 2003 as a helicopter pilot. She has 2,800 hours of helicopter flying experience. Acted as Flight Commander of a Helicopter Unit in the Western Sector.

New Delhi:On the eve of International Women's Day, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has taken a historic decision. It gave women an opportunity to perform duties directly on the battlefield. To this extent, Group Captain Shaliza Dhami has been assigned the command of the frontline combat unit in the western sector.

This is the first time that a woman has been entrusted with the responsibility of leadership on the battlefield. Shaliza Dhami joined the Indian Air Force in 2003 as a helicopter pilot. She has 2,800 hours of helicopter flying experience. Acted as Flight Commander of a Helicopter Unit in the Western Sector. A Group Captain in the Air Force is equivalent to a Colonel in the Army. She is currently working in the Operations Branch at the Frontline Command Headquarters. From the beginning of this month, beyond the medical department, the army is also giving commanding responsibilities to women.

Shaliza Dhami was born in Ludhiana of Punjab and holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Communication. Her first solo flight was in 2003 in a HAL HPT-32 Deepak. She was commissioned as a flying officer in the Air Force on December 20, 2003, on a short-service commission and was promoted to flight lieutenant on December 20, 2005, and to squadron leader on December 20, 2009.

Promoted wing commander on December 20, 2016, and she became a Flight Commander in August 2019, the first woman officer in the country to do so. She is a flight commander of a Chetak helicopter unit at Hindon Air Force Station. She also became the first woman flying instructor of the IAF for Chetak and Cheetah helicopters and this makes her the first woman flying instructor in the IAF. On December 18, 2018, Dhami became the first woman officer in the Indian Air Force to be granted a permanent commission.