As a little girl, Bhawana Kanth did not know much about aircraft. She remembers seeing a jet in the sky and running after it, trying to follow it for as long as she could. The aircraft would eventually disappear into the horizon, but the fascination it sparked stayed with her. “It all started probably when I was about 3 or 4 years old and I remember seeing a jet, as the kids would call it, little did I know it was just an aircraft,” she recalled. “So, you know, we would just run behind the jet at full speed till such time, continue to look at it and, you know, it just merged with the horizon. And I think that’s the first memory I have of, you know, wanting to fly,” she said while speaking to CNBC-TV18.Years later, that childhood fascination would take her into a cockpit that had, until then, remained beyond the reach of women in the Indian Air Force (IAF). In August 2026, Squadron Leader Kanth became the first woman officer in the IAF to qualify as a Fighter Combat Leader, completing an advanced combat training course at the Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) in Gwalior. The milestone added another chapter to a career that began with a childhood dream and progressed through some of the most demanding stages of military aviation.
Kanth was among India’s first three women fighter pilots, alongside Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh.
‘For me it was like, if we are going to the army, we will definitely fly fighters’
Kanth’s account of her early ambitions is striking for its simplicity. She did not begin with an understanding of the barriers women faced in fighter aviation. She simply assumed that if she joined the armed forces, she would get to fly fighter aircraft.“I have always, always, actually, at the cost of sounding silly, I had no idea that women don’t get fighters. So, for me it was like, if we are going to the army, we will definitely fly fighters. So, I had that kind of, you know, thinking when I joined.”That assumption changed after she entered the academy and learnt that women were not then being inducted into the fighter stream. But the discovery did not alter what she wanted to do. “But after I joined the academy, I got to know that women don’t get fighters. But nevertheless, that is all I ever wanted.”The turning point came when India opened the fighter stream to women. In 2016, Kanth was commissioned alongside Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh as one of the country’s first three women fighter pilots. Their induction marked a significant change in the IAF’s approach to women in combat aviation, giving Kanth the opportunity to pursue the career she had imagined as a child.Looking back at that change, she identifies it as the defining moment in her journey. “The biggest turning point in my case would be the historic decision of women in, you know, fighters.”
Kanth qualified as a Fighter Combat Leader after completing advanced training at TACDE in Gwalior in 2026.
From the fighter cockpit to a combat leadership qualification
Kanth’s career has unfolded through a series of professional milestones. In 2017, she joined a fighter squadron, and in March 2018, she completed her first solo flight on the MiG-21 Bison. In May 2019, she became the first woman fighter pilot in India qualified to undertake missions on a fighter aircraft by day.In 2021, she became the first woman fighter pilot to participate in the Republic Day parade and flypast, another public milestone in a career that had already broken new ground.Her latest achievement came with the completion of the Fighter Combat Leader course at TACDE, the IAF’s premier institution for advanced fighter combat training. The programme prepares pilots to lead complex air combat missions, develop tactics and make operational decisions in demanding combat situations. The course is highly selective, with only a small proportion of fighter pilots chosen to undertake it.Kanth’s qualification as the first woman officer to complete the course marked a shift from breaking into fighter aviation to qualifying for a specialised combat leadership role.Her journey has also involved moving between aircraft and adapting to the demands of operational flying. She has flown the MiG-21 Bison and later transitioned to the Sukhoi-30MKI. For Kanth, however, the experience is not defined by milestones alone. When she describes life as a fighter pilot, she talks about the flying, the physical demands, the people she works with and the setbacks that accompany the profession.
‘From dreaming to guarding the skies’
In her CNBC-TV18 interview, Kanth offers a glimpse of the experiences that make up a life in the fighter stream. Her description moves between the physical intensity of flying and the less visible relationships and emotions that shape a military career.“And, you know, from surfing the clouds to combat to pride in the uniform, I think high Gs, low altitudes, Ray-Bans, G-suits, the camaraderie, and, you know, the setbacks and the pad on the backs, everything.”She continues: “I think, you know, from wingmen to leaders and from dreaming to guarding the skies, I don’t think I would have it any other way. So, yeah, pretty amazing.”The reference to setbacks is an important part of her account. Her career is not simply a story of being present when opportunities opened up for women. It is also about progressing through training, learning the demands of the profession and earning qualifications in a field where operational standards remain exacting.Her Fighter Combat Leader qualification is particularly significant because it involves more than flying an aircraft. The training prepares pilots for advanced air combat, tactical planning and leadership in complex missions. According to NDTV, the course lasts 20 weeks and is among the IAF’s most demanding advanced flying programmes.The qualification also brings her journey full circle in a sense. The child who once ran behind an aircraft because she wanted to follow it across the sky has become an officer trained to lead fighter combat missions.
From chasing jets as a child to qualifying for a specialised combat leadership role, Kanth’s journey spans years of training and determination.
The habit she returns to every day
When asked about a habit she practises regularly, even when it is difficult or monotonous, Kanth’s answer was direct: training.“I think, I definitely train a lot. I train every day. You can call this in terms of my work or physical training or at least I do something for myself, a part of it as well, which would be just train, for sure,” she told CNBC. It is a brief answer, but it offers a glimpse into the routine behind a career often seen through its headline-making achievements. Fighter aviation demands continuing preparation, and her response points to training as a regular part of her life rather than something reserved for a particular test or milestone.Kanth was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2020, and her participation in the Republic Day parade in 2021 marked another first for women in the fighter stream. Her latest achievement at TACDE has now placed her in a specialised combat leadership category previously completed only by male officers.The significance of her journey lies in these individual milestones, but also in the progression between them. Each achievement has followed an earlier one, extending the possibilities for women in a profession in which access to fighter aircraft itself was once restricted.
‘Sometimes all it takes is just not to give up on your dreams’
Asked to reflect on how her journey unfolded, Kanth does not attribute it entirely to luck or to her own efforts. She speaks of the opportunity that came with the policy change, and of the importance of continuing to pursue what she wanted.“And I think, I think, call it sheer luck or probably, I think, fortune favors the bold. Or, you know, it was, I think, sometimes all it takes is just not to give up on your dreams and find a way. So, yeah, and the journey after that, I think, incredible to say the least. It’s been an amazing journey.”There is a clear thread connecting the memories she shares: the childhood excitement of watching an aircraft, the surprise of discovering that women could not become fighter pilots when she entered the academy, and the opportunity that eventually allowed her to pursue the role.Her story does not suggest that wanting something is enough on its own. The milestones in her career have required training, qualification and years of professional progression. But her recollection makes clear that the desire to fly remained constant even when the route towards it was not what she had expected.Today, as the first woman officer in the IAF to qualify as a Fighter Combat Leader, Kanth has moved beyond the childhood image of a jet disappearing into the horizon. Her own journey has become part of the history of women in Indian military aviation – one that began, by her account, with a little girl running after an aircraft and refusing to look away.
