President Murmu takes maiden sortie onboard Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet
In what marked her maiden sortie, Indian President Droupadi Murmu set off onboard a Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter aircraft on Saturday from the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam. The president undertook the sortie onboard the fighter jet as the supreme commander of the country's defense forces as part of her three-day visit to the northeastern state, as per reports.
Murmu 2nd female president to undertake sortie
Murmu reportedly flew for nearly 30 minutes covering the Brahmaputra and the Tezpur valleys with a view of the Himalayas before successfully landing at the Tezpur Air Force Station. Notably, she is only India's third president and second female president to undertake such a sortie. Former presidents APJ Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil also flew in frontline Sukhoi warplanes in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
Details on Murmu's Sukhoi Su-30MKI sortie
On Saturday, the fighter jet was flown by the Commanding Officer of the 106 Squadron and Group Captain Naveen Kumar. The warplane flew at an approximate height of two kilometers above sea level and at a staggering speed of about 800km per hour. Furthermore, Murmu's sortie onboard the Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft is part of her efforts to engage with the armed forces, said reports.
Video of Murmu taking flight in Sukhoi Su-30MKI
Murmu's post after maiden sortie
"President Droupadi Murmu took a historic sortie in a Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam," wrote the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Twitter while sharing photographs from the 64-year-old president's maiden flight in a warplane. "President Murmu is the third President and second woman President to undertake such a sortie (sic)," the tweet added.
'It was an exhilarating experience,' says Murmu
Talking about her experience after taking the sortie, Murmu stated, "It was an exhilarating experience for me to fly in the mighty Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF)." "It is a matter of pride that India's defense capabilities have expanded immensely to cover all the frontiers of land, air, and sea," she wrote in the visitor's book.
Twitter post by President Murmu
All you need to know about Sukhoi Su-30MKI
The Russia-developed Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter jet built under license by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the IAF in India. First accepted into the air force in 2002 after India inked a deal with Russia in 2000 to make 140 jets, the IAF reportedly had about 260 Su-30MKIs in its inventory as of January 2020.
