President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled take a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from Ambala Air Force base in Haryana today. The Rafale jets were used during Operation Sindoor which was launched by India in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Former presidents A P J 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 the state to take a sortie in Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station, Assam.
"The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu, will visit Ambala, Haryana tomorrow where she will take a sortie in Rafale," a statement issued on Tuesday by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Rafale fighter aircraft which are manufactured by French aerospace major Dassault Aviation, 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 jets were used in 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 that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.
In April 2019, the IAF issued an RFI (Request for Information), or initial tender, to acquire 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) at a cost of around USD 18 billion. It was billed as one of the world's biggest military procurement programmes in recent years.
Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation is learnt to be a front-runner for the multi-role fighter aircraft contract. The other contenders include Lockheed Martin's F-21, Boeing's F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
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