President Murmu takes sortie in Rafale; her second time in a fighter jet

Ambala, Oct 29 (IANS) President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday took a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet, which played a crucial role in 'Operation Sindoor' launched by India in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, at the Ambala Air Force Station in Haryana, her second flight in an Indian Air Force (IAF) combat aircraft.

Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh was among others present at the Air Force Station. Before taking the sortie, President Murmu inspected the guard of honour at the air base.

The President waved as she took off for the sortie. Dressed up in a Indian Air Force pilot's uniform and carrying a helmet ahead of the sortie, her flight marks a symbolic show of confidence in the Indian Air Force's operational readiness and growing air power capabilities.

Manufactured by French aerospace company Dassault Aviation and formally inducted into the Indian Air Force in September 2020 in Ambala, Rafale jets played a key role in 'Operation Sindoor'.

On April 8, 2023, President Murmu, the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces, became the third President and second woman head of state to take a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam.

Former Presidents APJ 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.

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 in 17 Squadron, the 'Golden Arrows'. The Rafale was the first imported fighter jet to be inducted into the Indian Air Force in 22 years after the Russian Sukhoi-30 fighters, the first of which entered the Indian Air Force's service in June 1997.

--IANS

vg/rad