President Droupadi Murmu Soars in Rafale Fighter Jet During Historic Sortie
The President, wearing a G-suit and helmet, took off from Ambala Air Force Station joining the elite list of Indian presidents to fly in fighter jets.
AMBALA, Oct 29: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday undertook a historic sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from the Air Force Station in Ambala, Haryana becoming the first Indian President to fly in the country’s most advanced combat aircraft.
Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh also flew in a separate Rafale aircraft from the same base.
Before boarding the jet, President Murmu donned a G-suit, holding her flight helmet and sporting sunglasses as she posed with the pilot for photographs. Shortly before take-off at 11:27 a.m., she waved to the assembled personnel and media from inside the cockpit.
On her arrival at the Air Force Station, President Murmu was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour.
The Rafale fighter jets, manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in September 2020 at Ambala. The first batch of five aircraft had arrived from France on July 27, 2020, and joined the IAF’s 17 Squadron, known as the Golden Arrows.
The Rafales recently played a crucial role in Operation Sindoor, India’s precision strike mission launched on May 7 in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The operation successfully targeted multiple terrorist infrastructures across the border.
This is President Murmu’s second sortie in a fighter jet. In April 2023, she flew in a Sukhoi-30 MKI from Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam. She follows in the footsteps of former presidents A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil, who had also undertaken sorties in the Sukhoi-30 MKI in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
The sortie symbolises the President’s role as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces and her continuing engagement with India’s defence capabilities and personnel.
