# Woman Sukhoi pilot part of Op Sindoor strike on LeT HQ 2026-08-23T01:15:46+00:00 | India | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Multiple women pilots and air crew were part of Operation Sindoor, the Indian retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack launched in May 2025, with one woman flying a Su-30MKI fighter jet that struck the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) headquarters in Muridke on the operation's first day. The woman pilot fired both Rampage and BrahMos cruise air-to-ground missiles during the 88-hour conflict, according to a defence source. Women officers were deployed as combat pilots and weapon system operators on platforms including the MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Rafale and Su-30MKI. The source refused to reveal the exact number of women fighter pilots involved or their names, citing classified information. A recently released two-part docu-series on the operation confirmed a woman pilot flew the Sukhoi-30MKI without identifying her. It also stated that Indian forces shortlisted 34 targets for the operation, later pruned to nine, all of which were struck on the first day. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Women were first inducted into the armed forces as Short Service Commission officers restricted to non-combat roles. The 1999 Kargil war saw Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena and others fly helicopters into combat zones. The turning point came in 2015 when the government approved inducting women into the IAF fighter stream, and in 2016 Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh became the first three women fighter pilots. The deployment of women pilots in an offensive strike mission marks a significant operational milestone. Watch for further declassification of details as more official accounts emerge. ## Coverage - timesofindia.indiatimes.com Reports facts from a defence source and docu-series without adding editorial judgement. This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: BrahMos, Indian Air Force, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Operation Sindoor, Su-30MKI Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/woman-sukhoi-pilot-part-of-op-sindoor-strike-on-let-hq/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/woman-sukhoi-pilot-part-of-op-sindoor-strike-on-let-hq/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/