Ambala: President Droupadi Murmu undertook a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from the Air Force Station here on Wednesday, and described it as an “unforgettable experience” that instilled in her a renewed sense of pride in the nation’s defence capabilities.
During her visit, the president posed with Squadron leader Shivangi Singh, just before she took to the skies.
Singh, the country’s first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot, was claimed to have been captured during ‘Operation Sindoor‘ by a pro-Pakistan social media handle. The Press Information Bureau Fact Check had on May 10 called out this claim as fake.
While President Murmu took a sortie in a Rafale jet, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh also flew in a separate aircraft from the same air base.
Murmu is the first President of India to have taken a sortie in two fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force. In April 2023, she had undertaken a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft from the Tezpur Air Force Station, Assam.
Former presidents A P J Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil had undertaken sorties in Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Air Force Station, Lohegaon, near Pune on June 8, 2006 and November 25, 2009, respectively.
Before getting on to the Rafale jet, Murmu, donning a G-suit and sporting sunglasses, posed for pictures with the Air Chief Marshal and some other senior IAF officers.
She waved from inside the jet before the aircraft took off at 11.27 am. In a picture, she was also seen flashing a thumbs-up gesture. The sortie lasted for approximately 30 minutes, covering about 200 kilometres before returning to the Air Force Station here.
The aircraft was flown by Group Captain Amit Gehani, Commanding Officer of the 17 Squadron, a statement issued by the President’s office said. The fighter jet flew at a height of about 15,000 feet above sea level and at a speed of about 700 kilometres per hour, it said.
Upon her arrival at the air base here in the morning, President Murmu was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour.
Later, the President wrote a brief note in the visitor’s book, saying, “I am delighted to visit Air Force Station, Ambala, for my maiden flight on Rafale aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The sortie on Rafale is an unforgettable experience for me.”
“This first flight on the potent Rafale aircraft has instilled in me a renewed sense of pride in the nation’s defence capabilities. I congratulate the Indian Air Force and the entire team of Air Force Station, Ambala, for organising this sortie successfully,” Murmu said.
She was also briefed on the operational capabilities of Rafale and the Indian Air Force.
Manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, Rafale fighter aircraft were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force in September 2020 at the Air Force Station, Ambala.
The first five Rafale aircraft, which had arrived from France on July 27, 2020, were inducted into 17 Squadron, the ‘Golden Arrows’.
The jets were used in Operation Sindoor, which was launched on May 7 to destroy several terror infrastructures in territories controlled by Pakistan. The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding between the two neighbours on halting the military actions on May 10.
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