On December 2, Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi became the first woman pilot in the Indian Navy, news agency ANI reported. She will be flying the Dornier surveillance aircraft.

Shivangi was commissioned into the Navy last year after her initial training, the report added. “Women were always there in the Navy. They were not in the cockpit. Observers were there. This is something different... a woman in the cockpit for the first time. It will create more opportunity for other women who want to join defence...maybe they will start going for choppers and fighters,” Shivangi was quoted as saying after joining her operational duties at the Kochi naval base.