President Droupadi Murmu, after completing a 30-minute sortie in a Rafale fighter jet on Wednesday, was seen alongside Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh at the Ambala Air Force base, a powerful image that effectively silenced Pakistan’s false propaganda. The photo of the President and the Indian Air Force officer came after Islamabad’s baseless claim that a Rafale pilot was shot down and captured during Operation Sindoor. The moment underscored both India’s air power and the growing role of women officers in the country’s defence forces.
Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, a member of the Indian Air Force’s Golden Arrows Squadron, had earlier flown the Rafale aircraft during Operation Sindoor, India’s precision airstrikes on nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in May this year.
The 29-year-old officer from Varanasi joined the Indian Air Force in 2017 as part of its second batch of women fighter pilots. Before qualifying on the Rafale in 2020, she flew the MiG-21 Bison , one of the world’s oldest fighter aircraft. Her journey from the vintage MiG-21 to the state-of-the-art Rafale symbolises the evolution of India’s air combat capability and the increasing representation of women in frontline combat roles.
Recently, Singh was felicitated by Air Marshal Tejbir Singh, SASO of the IAF Training Command, at the Flying Instructors School in Tambaram, Tamil Nadu. The honour recognised her achievement in earning the Qualified Flying Instructor (QFI) badge on 9 October 2025, a milestone that marks her as one of the few women instructors in India’s fighter stream.
Singh’s name had earlier made headlines during Operation Sindoor when Pakistan falsely claimed that India had lost multiple fighter jets, including a Rafale, and that she had been captured near Sialkot after ejecting from her aircraft.
A doctored video also surfaced online, purporting to show Air Chief Marshal AP Singh saying that Shivangi Singh was missing. The Indian government swiftly debunked the misinformation, with PIB Fact Check labelling the clip “baseless and fabricated”.
