File Photo
On Thursday, President Droupadi Murmu will embark on a two-day visit to Rajasthan from Friday, February 27, during which she will attend the Indian Air Force’s largest military exercise ‘Vayu Shakti-2026’ at the Pokhran Field Firing Range in Jaisalmer, close to the Indo-Pak border.
The IAF will hold its triennial firepower demonstration, regarded as its largest operational drill, on Friday in the presence of the President, who is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.
As per the schedule, the President will co-pilot a Light Combat Helicopter named ‘Prachand’ for an aerial survey of the exercise area. This will mark the first instance of an Indian President flying a combat helicopter over the border airspace in Jaisalmer.
Following the sortie, she will also be interacting with officers & air warriors at the Air Force Station.
Later in the evening, the President will reach the Pokhran range where the exercise will formally set in motion in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Bhajanlal Sharma.
The exercise will showcase the IAF’s combat readiness, featuring precision strikes, aerial manoeuvres and live firepower demonstrations.
Apart from the LCH Prachand, frontline platforms including the Rafale, Sukhoi-30MKI & AH-64 Apache will demonstrate their operational capabilities during the Vayu Shakti exercise.
Given the strategic location of the drill near the international border, authorities have put elaborate security arrangements in place. They have declared the airspace between Chandan and Pokhran a no-fly zone for the duration of the event.
President Murmu’s Long Association With the IAF
President Murmu shares a long association with IAF aircraft and has previously undertaken sorties in frontline fighter jets to boost the morale of the armed forces.
Earlier, on October 29, 2025, she made history by flying a Rafale fighter jet of the ‘Golden Arrows’ squadron based in Ambala and became the first Indian President to fly in both the Sukhoi-30MKI and Rafale fighter aircraft.
During the Rafale sortie, she experienced speeds of around 700 KM/H at an altitude of nearly 15,000 Feet.
Earlier, on April 8, 2023, she flew for about thirty minutes in a Sukhoi 30MKI from the Tezpur airbase, Assam, reviewing the aircraft’s combat capabilities while flying over the Himalayan region & the Brahmaputra valley. She became the second woman President after Pratibha Patil to undertake a sortie in a Sukhoi fighter jet.
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