President Droupadi Murmu set a new record on Wednesday, 29th October, by taking a ride in a Rafale fighter jet. Which took off from the Ambala Air Force Station in Haryana, makes her the first Indian President to have ever flown in both the Rafale and the Sukhoi 30 MKI, two of India’s top fighter jets.
"The sortie on Rafale is an unforgettable experience for me. 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… pic.twitter.com/Ud3LX8uqBU
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) October 29, 2025
The President, the Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces, was taken up by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh.
The President flew for about 30 minutes in the sophisticated Rafale plane and covered a distance of about 200 kilometres. In the evening, the President posted about her ride on the social media platform X.
She called it an unforgettable experience and said it gave her a renewed sense of pride in the nation’s defence capabilities. She also praised the Indian Air Force and the whole team at Ambala for successfully carrying out the flight.
This is not President Murmu’s first fighter ride. She had a 30-minute flight in a Sukhoi 30 MKI from Assam’s Tezpur Air Force Station on April 8, 2023. Though she is the first to take both jets to the skies, she is the third President to have flown a fighter jet. Before her, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had taken to the skies in a Sukhoi in June 2006, and Pratibha Patil in one in November 2009, both from Pune airbase.
The Rafale fighter aircraft are part of the core strength of Indian aviation. They are the very planes that were used in “Operation Sindoor,” the Indian response to the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
The aircraft were manufactured by the French aerospace firm Dassault Aviation and were ceremonially inducted into the Indian Air Force in September 2020 at this very same Ambala base. India currently operates 36 Rafale jets and will also induct 26 Rafale M (Marine) jets variants to be operated on aircraft carriers such as INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya.
Dassault Aviation is planning to set up a big maintenance centre in Hyderabad. This centre will specifically be for the M-88 engines used in the Rafales, and Indian companies like the Tata Group are expected to be heavily involved.
