Murmu’s winged pride
Dressed in an anti-gravity suit, President Murmu, India’s Armed Forces chief, boarded the Rafale confidently before it ascended through the morning haze.
Ambala
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday flew in a Rafale fighter jet from the Ambala Air Force Base in Haryana — marking the first time an Indian President has taken a sortie in the French-made combat aircraft. The sortie also marks her second flight in a fighter jet since assuming office.
Wearing an anti-gravity suit, President Murmu, who is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces, stepped into the Rafale cockpit with a composed smile before the aircraft soared through the morning fog. Her flight comes from the same airbase whose Rafales spearheaded Operation Sindoor five months ago, when the Indian Air Force conducted precision strikes on terror camps across the border in response to the Pahalgam attack.
The President’s sortie is a symbolic gesture of solidarity with the armed forces and recognition of the Rafale’s role in strengthening India’s air defence. The Rafale, built by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, officially joined the Indian Air Force fleet in 2020 and is operated by the 17 Squadron, known as the “Golden Arrows.”
This was Murmu’s second experience aboard a fighter aircraft. On April 8, 2023, she flew in a Sukhoi-30 MKI from the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam, becoming only the third Indian President — and the second woman head of state after Pratibha Patil — to do so. The Rafales made their combat debut during Operation Sindoor in May this year, when precision strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir prompted intense border exchanges before Islamabad sought a ceasefire on May 10.
