Indian Navy's first batch of three women pilots – Lieutenant Divya Sharma, Lt Shubhangi Swaroop and Lt Shivangi are now ready to take on Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) missions aboard Dornier aircrafts.

The three women were part of the Dornier Operational Flying Training (DOFT) Course and graduated as 'Fully operational Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) Pilots earlier this year. They were also presented awards during the graduation ceremony.

Prior to the DOFT course, the pilots had undergone basic flight training with the Indian Air Force (IAF) and also partly with the Navy.

Lt Divya Sharma, who was the first to qualify as a naval pilot, hails from New Delhi. Lt Shubhangi Swaroop belongs to Uttar Pradesh and Lt Shivangi on the other hand hails from Bihar.

They will be the first set of woman airborne combatants to operate from warships. So far, woman officers in the Navy have been restricted to fixed wing aircraft that took off and landed ashore.