President Murmu to Take Historic Sortie in Rafale Fighter Jet at Ambala Air Force Base

President Murmu will take a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from Ambala Air Force Base in Haryana soon.

President Droupadi Murmu, the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces, is set to take a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from Ambala Air Force Base in Haryana. These advanced jets were deployed during Operation Sindoor, India's strategic response to the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.

This continues a tradition of presidential military engagement, following former presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil who undertook sorties in Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Air Force Station near Pune in 2006 and 2009 respectively.

On April 8, 2023, President Murmu 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.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan issued a statement on Tuesday confirming, "The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, will visit Ambala, Haryana tomorrow, where she will take a sortie in Rafale."

The Rafale fighter aircraft, manufactured by French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation, were formally inducted into the Indian Air Force in September 2020 at the Air Force Station in Ambala. The initial five Rafale aircraft, which arrived from France on July 27, 2020, became part of the prestigious 17 Squadron, known as the 'Golden Arrows'.

These advanced jets played a crucial role in Operation Sindoor, which was initiated on May 7 to neutralize terror infrastructures in Pakistan-controlled territories. The operation resulted in four days of intense military engagement that concluded with an agreement to cease military actions on May 10.