President Droupadi Murmu made her maiden sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft on Saturday at the Tezpur air station in Assam amid tension with neighbouring China over Arunachal Pradesh.
The President boarded the aircraft at 11am and took off from Tezpur air force station for the historic sortie minutes later. Murmu flew for about 30 minutes covering the Brahmaputra and Tezpur valley with a view of Himalayas before returning to the air force station.
The aircraft was flown by Group Captain Naveen Kumar, Commanding Officer of the 106 Squadron. The aircraft flew at a height of about two kilometers above sea level and at a speed of about 800 kilometers per hour, an official statement said.
Although Murmu is not the first President to make a sortie in a fighter aircraft, Tezpur air force station hosted a President's sortie for the first time.
APJ Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil and Ramnath Kovind had made similar sorties in Sukhoi 30 fighter aircrafts at the IAF station in Pune, Maharashtra, during their tenure as the President.
Tezpur air force station is one of the air force stations under the Eastern Air Command of the IAF. It looks after air defence on India's border with China (including Arunachal Pradesh), Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
The President, who is the Supreme Commander of Indian defence forces, made the sortie at Tezpur at a time China and India are engaged in a squabble over Arunachal Pradesh. Tezpur in North Assam shares a boundary with Arunachal Pradesh. India on Tuesday rejected China's recent move to assign Mandarin and Tibetan names to 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in order to assert its claim over the frontier state.
"It was an exhilarating experience for me to fly in the mighty Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force. It is a matter of pride that India's defence capabilities have expanded immensely to cover all the frontiers of land, air and sea. I congratulate the Indian Air Force and the entire team of Air Force Station Tezpur for organising this sortie,” Murmu wrote in the visitor's book after the sortie. Clad in the IAF pilot uniform, Murmu waved at the guests present at the Air Force station before boarding the fighter aircraft.
Murmu was received by Chief of Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal SP Dharkar. Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma were also present on the occasion. The President was also briefed about the operational capabilities of the aircraft and the IAF.
The President was on a two-day visit to Assam. On Friday, Murmu inaugurated the Gaj Utsav 2023 (Elephant festival) at Kaziranga National Park and attended the platinum jubilee celebrations of Gauhati High Court.