The Indian Navy has decided to admit women into its elite special forces, allowing them to serve as commandos for the first time in any of the three defence services, Hindustan Times has reported citing senior officials familiar with the matter.

“Women in the navy can now become marine commandos (MARCOS) if they choose to and meet the criteria. It’s truly a watershed in India’s military history. But no one is directly assigned to special forces units. People have to volunteer for it,” Hindustan Times has quoted an unnamed senior naval official as saying.

The option of volunteering to become MARCOS will be available to both female officers and sailors who will join the service as Agniveers next year, the report said.

The MARCOS have been trained for a variety of tasks and can operate on land, sea, and air.

These commandos can carry out covert strikes on enemy warships, offshore installations, and other key assets, as well as specialised diving operations and observation and reconnaissance missions to support naval operations.

They can even fight terrorists in a maritime setting and have been used in counter-terrorism operations in Kashmir’s Wular lake area.

The opening of the navy’s special forces wing to women comes as the force prepares to induct women into the personnel below officer rank (PBOR) cadre for the first time.

The navy’s first batch of Agniveers included 341 women among the 3,000 recruits.