Shaliza Dhami: 8 things to know about first woman IAF officer to command combat unit

Group Captain Shaliza Dhami was commissioned as a helicopter pilot in 2003. (Image credit: Vinod Tawde, ANI/Twitter)

Ahead of International Women’s Day, the Indian Air Force (IAF) announced the selection of Group Captain Shaliza Dhami to take over command of a frontline combat unit in the Western sector. With this, she became the first woman IAF officer who has been given command of a frontline combat unit.

A Group Captain in the IAF is equivalent to a Colonel in the Army.

Here's what we know about Shaliza Dhami:

1.)  Born in Punjab’s Ludhiana, her first solo flight was in 2003 in a HAL HPT-32 Deepak.

2.) With over 15 years of experience, she has many firsts to her credit, News18 reported. In 2019, Shaliza Dhami became the first woman IAF officer to have been promoted to the post of the Flight Commander of a flying unit.

3.) She will be the Commanding Office of a missile squadron, Times Now reported. The development came after the Indian Army started assigning command roles outside the medical stream to woman officers.

4.) Group Captain Shaliza Dhami was commissioned as a helicopter pilot in 2003.

5.) She has over 2,800 hours of flying experience.

6.) She is a qualified flying instructor.

7.) Earlier, she had also served as Flight Commander of a helicopter unit in the Western sector, Times Now reported.

8.) Group Captain Shaliza Dhami was commended by the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief on two occasions, and is presently posted in the Operations branch of a frontline Command Headquarters, Outlook reported.