Republic Day 2022: Shivangi Singh, India’s first woman pilot to fly Rafale, at Republic Day parade

Republic Day parade 2022: Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh was part of Indian Air Force's tableau. (Screengrab from video tweeted by @PIB_India)

Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh, the first woman pilot in India to fly the Rafale fighter jet, was among the participants in the 2022 Republic Day Parade in New Delhi.

Shivangi Singh was part of the Indian Air Force’s tableau at the grand annual parade that displays India’s military strength and cultural diversity.

IAF's display at the Republic Day Parade featured a band, a marching contingent and a tableau with models of Rafale, MiG-21 aircraft and 3D surveillance radar Aslesha MK-1.

The theme of the tableau was "The Indian Air Force Transforming for the Future".

Country's first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh is a part of the Indian Air Force tableau as the @IAF_MCC band and marching contingent marches down the Rajpath#RepublicDay#RepublicDayIndiapic.twitter.com/n35YZ0xp4F

— PIB India (@PIB_India) January 26, 2022

Yesssss! You Show them Shivangi! You’re our RafaleRani https://t.co/gwJA7YuLC1

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— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 26, 2022

Singh is part of the Indian Air Force's 17 “Golden Arrows” squadron, which is based in Haryana's Ambala city. The pilot belongs to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. 

The Rafale fighter jets, known for their air-superiority and precision strikes, are India’s first major acquisition of fighter planes in 23 years after the Sukhoi jets were imported from Russia.

The first batch of five Rafale jets arrived in India from France on July 29, 2020, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with the country to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.

The fighter jets were formally inducted into the IAF on September 10. 

The second batch of three Rafale fighter jets had arrived at the Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat on November 4, 2020. So far, 30 Rafale jets have been delivered to India and the remaining six are expected to be handed over by April 2022.