AMBALA: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday took a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from the Air Force Station in Ambala, Haryana. Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh also flew a separate aircraft from the same base.
Before boarding the Rafale, the President donned a G-suit. Holding a helmet and wearing sunglasses, she posed for photographs with the pilot before the flight. The aircraft took off at 11:27 a.m., with President Murmu waving from inside the cockpit.
Earlier in the day, the President was given a ceremonial guard of honour upon her arrival at the airbase.
Rafale jets, manufactured by French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation, were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in September 2020 at the Ambala Air Force Station. The first batch of five Rafale aircraft, which arrived from France on July 27, 2020, was inducted into the 17 Squadron, known as the ‘Golden Arrows.’
The Rafale fleet was recently deployed during Operation Sindoor, launched by India in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The operation, conducted on May 7, targeted several terror infrastructures in Pakistan-controlled territories and concluded after four days of hostilities on May 10.
President Murmu, who serves as the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces, had earlier undertaken a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam in April 2023. Former Presidents A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil had also taken similar sorties in Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft from the Lohegaon Air Force Station near Pune in June 2006 and November 2009, respectively.
