President Droupadi Murmu had flown a Rafale fighter jet on Wednesday morning at the Ambala airbase, not just to have a photo-op and deliver a message to Pakistan, especially when she was seated beside Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh.
When India carried out Operation Sindoor in May against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba camps after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, Islamabad’s media had gone into overdrive. They claimed to have captured a Rafale pilot, even naming her as Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh. However, the Indian Air Force quickly clarified that, was false news.
Who is Shivangi Singh?
Shivang joined the Indian Air Force in 2017 and became the first woman Rafale pilot in 2020. Months later, on October 29, the same Varanasi-born guided President Murmu through the Rafale cockpit.
Lensing her next to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces was, in itself, a fitting rebuttal to Pakistan’s earlier falsehoods.
Ambala Group captain Amit Gehani led the sortie, which took off at 11.27 a.m. and flew for about 30 minutes, covering a distance of approximately 200 kilometres.
A separate Rafale, with Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh himself leading a formation sortie, flew in coordination with the president's aircraft.
“The fighter jet flew at a height of about 15,000 ft above sea level and at a speed of about 700 kilometres per hour,” the President’s office’s official statement read.
Following the flight, President Murmu called it “an unforgettable experience.”
“This first flight on the potent Rafale aircraft has instilled in me a renewed sense of pride in the nation's defence capabilities. I congratulate the Indian Air Force and the entire team of Air Force Station, Ambala, for organising this sortie successfully,” she said.
