Ambala : President Droupadi Murmu, after completing a 30-minute sortie in a Rafale fighter jet on Wednesday, was seen with Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh at the Ambala Air Force base — a moment that effectively quashed Pakistan’s false claims that the Rafale pilot was shot down and captured during Operation Sindoor. 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.
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.
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. With this flight, 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.
Read Also : Bihar Election : If You Ask PM Modi To Dance For Votes, He Will Do It Says Rahul Gandhi