Shivangi Singh, the first-ever Indian woman to pilot a Rafale fighter jet, was featured on the tableaux of the Indian Air Force on Wednesday at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi. India celebrated its 73rd Republic Day today.

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Who is Shivangi Singh?

Shivangi Singh, who is from the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, holds the position of Flight Lieutenant in the Indian Air Force and has successfully piloted the Rafale fighter aircraft.

Singh, whose age remains unclear, was inducted into the Indian Air Force in 2017 as part of the force’s second batch of woman fighter pilots. According to reports from the Free Press Journal, she used to fly the MiG-21 Bison aircraft.

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Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is also part of the Ambala based Golden Arrows squadron of the India Air Force, media reports suggest. 

In addition to being the first woman pilot of the Rafale to be featured on tableaux of the Indian Air Force on Wednesday, she also became the second woman fighter pilot to be the tableaux. 

The first woman to secure that achievement was Flight Lieutenant Bhawna Kanth, who was a part of the parade in 2021.

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The IAF tableau was based on the theme — ‘Indian Air Force transforming for the future’.  Scaled down models of Rafale fighter jet, indigenously developed light combat helicopter (LCH) and 3D surveillance radar Aslesha MK-1 were part of the float, according to reports from news agency PTI.

It also featured a scaled down model of MiG-21 aircraft that played a major role in the 1971 war in which India defeated Pakistan, leading to the creation of Bangladesh, as well as a model of India’s first indigenously developed aircraft Gnat.