Ambala, Oct 29 — President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday took a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet at the Air Force Station in Ambala, Haryana — the same aircraft type used in Operation Sindoor, India’s recent counterterrorism mission launched after the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh and senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officers were present as the President, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, boarded the twin-seater Rafale. “It was a matter of great pride to fly in one of the finest aircraft in the world,” Murmu said after the sortie.
This was not the President’s first experience in a combat jet. On April 8, 2023, she became the third Indian President and the second woman head of state to fly in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft from Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam — following in the footsteps of former presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil.
Manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation, the Rafale was inducted into the Indian Air Force in September 2020, with the first five aircraft joining the 17 Squadron ‘Golden Arrows’ at Ambala Air Base.
The aircraft played a crucial role in Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, during which the IAF destroyed several terror infrastructures located in Pakistan-controlled territory. The strikes led to four days of military escalation before both sides agreed to de-escalate on May 10.
