{"id":80812,"date":"2025-10-29T07:33:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T07:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=80812"},"modified":"2025-10-29T07:33:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T07:33:42","slug":"president-murmu-takes-rafale-sortie-at-ambala-air-force-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/2025\/10\/29\/president-murmu-takes-rafale-sortie-at-ambala-air-force-station\/","title":{"rendered":"President Murmu Takes Rafale Sortie at Ambala Air Force Station"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ambala, Oct 2025 :<\/strong> President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday undertook a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet<\/strong> at the Ambala Air Force Station in Haryana<\/strong>, marking her second flight in an Indian Air Force (IAF) combat aircraft<\/strong>. The Rafale jet played a pivotal role in \u2018Operation Sindoor\u2019<\/strong>, India\u2019s response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh<\/strong> and senior IAF officers were present during the President\u2019s visit. Before the sortie, President Murmu reviewed a guard of honour<\/strong> at the air base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waving as she prepared for take-off, President Murmu appeared in full IAF pilot uniform<\/strong>, complete with flight gear and helmet. Her flight, officials said, symbolises the nation\u2019s confidence in the Indian Air Force\u2019s operational readiness<\/strong> and its growing air power capabilities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rafale<\/strong>, a twin-engine, multirole fighter jet manufactured by Dassault Aviation<\/strong> of France, was formally inducted into the IAF in September 2020<\/strong> at the same Ambala Air Force Station. The aircraft has since become a key component of India\u2019s frontline combat fleet, known for its agility, advanced avionics, and precision strike capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Murmu\u2019s sortie follows her earlier flight in a Sukhoi-30 MKI<\/strong> fighter jet at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam<\/strong> on April 8, 2023<\/strong>. With that flight, she became the third Indian President<\/strong> and the second woman head of state<\/strong> to fly in a combat aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam<\/strong> and Pratibha Patil<\/strong> had also undertaken sorties in Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters \u2014 Dr. Kalam at the Lohegaon Air Force Station near Pune on June 8, 2006<\/strong>, and Ms. Patil at the same base on November 25, 2009<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first batch of five Rafale aircraft<\/strong> arrived from France on July 27, 2020<\/strong>, and were inducted into the IAF\u2019s 17 Squadron, \u201cGolden Arrows,\u201d<\/strong> stationed at Ambala. The Rafale marked the first imported fighter aircraft<\/strong> to join the Indian Air Force in over two decades<\/strong>, following the induction of Russian-built Sukhoi-30 fighters<\/strong> in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Murmu\u2019s latest sortie, officials said, reflects the strong synergy between India\u2019s civilian leadership and its armed forces and underscores the country\u2019s continuing commitment to strengthening its aerial defence capabilities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ambala, Oct 2025 : President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday undertook a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet at the Ambala Air Force Station in Haryana, marking her second flight in an Indian Air Force (IAF) combat aircraft. The Rafale jet played a pivotal role in \u2018Operation Sindoor\u2019, India\u2019s response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":80815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[80],"post_format":[],"flags":[],"class_list":["post-80812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india-news","tag-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80816,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80812\/revisions\/80816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80812"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_format?post=80812"},{"taxonomy":"flags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/flags?post=80812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}