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President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday took a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet, moments after she arrived at the Air Force Station in Haryana’s Ambala. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh was among others present on the occasion. A video showed President Murmu boarding the Rafale fighter jet. VIDEO | VIDEO | Air Force Base, Ambala: President Droupadi Murmu boards Rafale jet. She will take a sortie in the fighter jet shortly.@rashtrapatibhvn @IAF_MCC (Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/dzz1BJlXN1 — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 29, 2025 Before that, the President was seen standing near the Rafale jet, as reporters and journalists clicked her pictures. Haryana: President Droupadi Murmu at the Ambala Air Force Station She will shortly take a sortie in the Rafale aircraft pic.twitter.com/Noe5uNejIA — ANI (@ANI) October 29, 2025 She then took off in the fighter jet after waving at the crowd. VIDEO | President Droupadi Murmu (@rashtrapatibhvn) waves as she takes off for a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from Ambala air base. Rafale jets were used during Operation Sindoor, launched by India in response to the April 22 dastardly Pahalgam terror attack. (Full video… pic.twitter.com/QrA4NAIEMj — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 29, 2025 Before President Murmu, 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. On April 8, 2023, 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, Assam. The Rafale jets were used in India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’, which was launched on May 7 to destroy several terror infrastructures in territories controlled by Pakistan. The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes between India and Pakistan, which ended on May 10 with an understanding between the two countries on stopping the military actions. 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 into 17 Squadron, the ‘Golden Arrows’. Earlier today, the Press India Bureau’s fact-check department had called out Pakistani handles for circulating a digitally altered video of President Murmu, wherein she could be heard claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is using her as a prop to elevate Rafale PR. “The President of India has not made any such statement,” the fact-check department of the PIB stated. “This AI-generated fake video is being circulated to mislead people,” it added. ALSO READ | President Murmu Calls For Unity, Cooperation And Care For Environment In Chhath Puja Message
