President Murmu poses with Rafale's first woman pilot

Ambala | President Droupadi Murmu, who undertook a half-an-hour sortie in a Rafale fighter jet on Wednesday from here, posed with Squadron leader Shivangi Singh, just before she took to the skies.

Singh, the country's first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot, was claimed to have been captured during 'Operation Sindoor' by a pro-Pakistan social media handle.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check had on May 10 called out this claim as fake.

The Rafale jets were used in Operation Sindoor, which was launched on May 7 to destroy several terror infrastructures in territories controlled by Pakistan, in response to the April 22 dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam.

The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan issued a picture of the President posing with Singh, atop a ladder used in boarding or deboarding an aircraft.

The President took a sortie in a Rafale aircraft at Air Force Station, Ambala (Haryana) on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by her office.

Murmu is the first President of India to have taken sortie in two fighter aircrafts of the Indian Air Force. Earlier, she took a sortie in Sukhoi 30 MKI in 2023.