Women will be admitted to the Krasnodar aviation school for pilot training this year for the first time in Russia’s modern history, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told reporters on Saturday.

“There are quite a few girls who would like to become military pilots. We’ve received hundreds of letters, hence the decision to enroll the first group of girls in the Krasnodar military aviation school this year,” the minister said.

“They will be few in number, 15 all in all. However, considering the number of applications received by the Russian Aerospace Forces, we cannot ignore these requests, so on October 1, the first group of girls will start training to become military pilots,” he added.

Shoigu who visited the celebrations to mark Aerospace Forces Day earlier in the day expressed the hope that the school’s female graduates will make such holidays more spectacular thanks to their skills five years later.