The Indian Air Force (IAF) will soon have its first batch of women fighter pilots inducted into its combat force. We look at the first three women to don the IAF colours and reach for the skies.

It’s really been a dream come true for young Avani. She spent her growing years wanting to fly like a bird and today she stands at the threshold of history as one of the three women fighter pilots to be inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF). Flying Cadet Avani Chaturvedi, along with flying cadets Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, is the first three women cadets to be cleared for flying fighter aircraft.

The three women flying cadets are undergoing flying training at the Indian Air Force base in Hakempet along with their male counterparts. There is no special treatment for the women cadets. They undergo the same rigorous training as the men. No concessions -- physical fitness or mental robustness, the tests are the same.

While women pilots have been flying helicopters and transport aircraft since 1991 in the IAF, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who finally took the decision to open the cockpits of fighter aircraft for women. There was some reluctance initially, but the IAF is now going all out to make this experiment a success.

This is a learning experience for the IAF too. This is the first time it will be putting women cadets in the fighter aircraft cockpit. And it hopes to benefit from this experience.

The three women cadets have undergone the mandatory 55 hours of flying on Stage I trainer -- the Pilatus PC 7 basic trainer. They are currently undergoing Stage II training on the Kiran Mark II. Once they clear this stage, they will graduate to the Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) for fighter flying training.

"The IAF will get its first woman fighter pilot on June 18, 2016,'' Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, chief of air staff announced to thunderous applause addressing a seminar on women in uniform - on the occasion of International Women's Day. The women cadets will have to clear every physical, mental and psychological test to be cleared for flying fighter jets.

"So far they are performing better than our expectations. They are mentally very alert and physically as fit meeting all the requirements. Once we put them in a fighter cockpit we will test them to take more than 5 G + (more than five times the gravitational pull the body experiences) while flying,'' sources added. The male fighter pilots undergo up to 9 G pull during some complex maneuvers. The women cadets will have to undergo the same before being cleared for combat fighter flying.

The missions envisaged for women fighter pilots will be slightly different from their male counterparts initially. The women fighter pilots will fly combat air patrols (CAPs) and protect Indian skies from hostile elements.

Currently, these women flying officers are undergoing intensive training on the weapons system that will take them more than two years at the Kalaikunda Air Force station near Kharagpur, West Bengal. They have already undergone training on the combat version of British Hawks at Bidar, Karnataka, sources told BusinessLine.

For security reasons, these women have been kept out of bounds and are not allowed to speak to the media. History will remember these women for opening the gates for women in combat roles in the IAF. They have been trained on Pilatus PC 7 basic trainer and Kiran Mark II during the first stage. However, compared to their male counterparts, these women pilots will not be flying over enemy territory but will be put in combat air patrol with the mission of protecting the skies from external threats, sources said. Daughter of an executive engineer with the Madhya Pradesh government, Avani Chaturvedi was born in Satna and did her BTech in computer science. However, it was her brother, who is in the army, who had been her inspiration to join the forces.

Bhawana Kanth hails from Bihar. Her father is an officer in the Indian Oil Corporation. But she had always dreamt of flying fighter jets. She has done BE in Medical Electronics from BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru. Finally, Mohana Singh comes from Rajasthan and she belongs to an Air Force background as her father is an IAF personnel. She studied at Air Force School, New Delhi and did her bachelors in electronics and communication from Amritsar.

The three women cadets as of now are training hard to touch the sky with glory.