JODHPUR: India’s first woman defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday donned an olive green flight suit to fly in Indian Air Force’s frontline aircraft, Sukhoi Su-30 MKI — an indigenously-built twinengine fighter jet capable of carrying out nuclear strikes.
The supersonic jet carrying Sitharaman, piloted by Group Captain Sumit Garg, took off from the Air Force station here in Rajasthan. She was seen seated in the cockpit for the 40-minute sortie. The minister told the media that she felt “very proud and thankful” to the Air Force for the experience.
“It actually tells me with what rigour, practice, what level of readiness and how quickly they (defence personnel) have to respond to situations. It was eye-opening and memorable,” Sitharaman said.
With this, Sitharaman became the second Indian woman leader to fly in a Sukhoi-30 jet. Earlier, then President Pratibha Patil had flown in the fighter in 2009.
Sitharaman donned a helmet with oxygen mask and wore a flight overall and a G-Suit, also called anti-gravity suit — worn by pilots for comfort when the jet takes turns.
The minister tweeted her pictures familiarizing herself with the fighter aircraft before taking off. The Sukhoi SU-30 MKI is a multi-role fighter developed by Russia’s Sukhoi and built under licence by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).
After taking over as defence minister in September, Sitharaman has been visiting Army, Air Force and Naval bases frequently.