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Young women to join Russia’s fighter aviation soon, says top brass

Currently, some female cadets have finished the fourth course at the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School

ORENBURG, June 8. /TASS/. The first female fighter pilots will shortly join Russia’s Aerospace Force to operate modern combat aircraft, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Tuesday.

"We are training all the young women at the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots for combat aviation. Yes, indeed, they are distributed among aviation branches: several female cadets — and there are a few of them — are preparing to join fighter aviation and several others are going for assault aviation, while an absolute majority of them are training for service in military transport aviation," the defense official said following his visit to the Orenburg presidential cadet school.

"In the immediate future, we will be able to see the first Russian female fighter pilots in operational aviation units," he added.

The female cadets are carrying out flights and conducting parachute jumps and "are fulfilling the program of training Russian military pilots without any lenience," he stressed.

Currently, some female cadets have finished the fourth course at the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School. In particular, they are flying L-39 training jets to master various types of flight training, including aerobatic stunts and team cohesion.

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