President poses with woman Rafale pilot Pakistan falsely claimed to have captured
Prez Murmu became the first Indian President to have flown in two fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
In April 2023, she had undertaken a sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI from the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam.
President Droupadi Murmu's Rafale sortie came with a powerful image -- her standing beside Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, the Rafale pilot Pakistan had falsely claimed was captured during Operation Sindoor.
President Droupadi Murmu, who took a 30-minute sortie in a Rafale fighter jet on Wednesday, Oct 29, was photographed with Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh at the Ambala Air Force base - a moment that once again demolished Pakistan's false claims that the pilot was captured after her Rafale was shot down during Operation Sindoor.
Shivangi Singh, a member of the Indian Air Force's Golden Arrows Squadron and the country's first and only woman Rafale pilot, had earlier flown the Rafale aircraft during Operation Sindoor -- India's precision airstrikes on nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) in May this year.
In a note written in the visitors' book after the sortie, the President said she was 'delighted' to visit Ambala for her maiden Rafale flight.
"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," Murmu wrote.
The 29-year-old officer from Varanasi joined the Air Force in 2017 as part of its second batch of women fighter pilots. Before qualifying for the Rafale in 2020, Shivangi Singh flew the MiG-21 Bison. Her progression from one of the world's oldest fighter aircraft to one of its most advanced represents the changing face of India's air combat leadership.
Recently, Singh was felicitated by Air Marshal Tejbir Singh, SASO of the IAF Training Command, at the Flying Instructors School in Tamil Nadu's Tambaram. The felicitation was for earning her Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) badge on October 9, 2025.
President Murmu made her maiden sortie in a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at Assam’s Tezpur Air Force Station in 2023
Singh's name made headlines during Operation Sindoor after Pakistan falsely claimed that India had lost several fighter jets, including a Rafale, and that Shivangi Singh had been captured near Sialkot after ejecting from her aircraft.
Another doctored video also circulated online, falsely showing IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh claiming that Shivangi Singh was missing and that he had visited her family.
The government promptly debunked the claim, with PIB Fact Check terming the video as "baseless and fabricated".
PRESIDENT'S HISTORIC SORTIE
In a historic first, President Murmu took a sortie in a Rafale fighter jet from the Air Force Station in Haryana's Ambala -- an experience she called 'unforgettable'.
Air Chief Marshal AP Singh flew in a separate aircraft from the same base.
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