She is the first President to have taken sortie in two fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force. Earlier, she took a sortie in Sukhoi 30 MKI in 2023, the President's Secretariat said in an official statement.
President Murmu, who is also the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces, flew for about 30 minutes, covering nearly 200 kilometres before returning to the Air Force Station.
Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh flew a Rafale fighter jet over Ambala on Wednesday, leading a formation sortie that also saw President Droupadi Murmu experience the aircraft for the first time.
The proposal, expected to be worth over Rs 2 lakh crore, including the indigenous content of more than 60 per cent, is expected to be taken up for discussion by the Defence Procurement Board headed by the Defence Secretary in the next few weeks.
In a post on social media, Macron said, "Following the Russian drone incursions into Poland, I have decided to deploy three Rafale fighter jets to contribute to the protection of Polish airspace and of NATO's Eastern Flank together with our Allies."
Alvi said, "We have full trust in our armed forces. We are proud of them. If our IAF chief is saying all these things, then the entire nation trusts him. But even the IAF chief has not clarified whether our fighter jets were shot down, whether our Rafales were shot down."