Nirmala Sitharaman set for Sukhoi ‘sally’

Come Wednesday, Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be in a Sukhoi 30MKI. She will fly a sortie from Air Force Station, Jodhpur.

Sitharaman was recently on board INS Vikramaditya and her sortie will be a part of the minister’s effort to gauge and review the capabilities of the IAF. She is not the only minister to have undertaken such a sortie. Former Defence Minister George Fernandes had gone on two such sorties -- one in a Sukhoi that flew from Pune and another a month later in a MiG-21 over Haryana. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam had also flown a 30-minute sortie in a Su-30MKI from Lohegaon Air Force station which made him the oldest Indian to fly a fighter jet. His successor - Pratibha Patil - also flew a 20-minute sortie from the same Air Force Station in a Su-30MKI. 

Interestingly, the current Defence Minister’s colleague - Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs -- also flew a sortie in 2016. Business tycoon Ratan Tata has also flown in a fighter jet. However, Tata flew in a F-16 - used by the US Air Force and others - during the Bangalore Air Show.