President Droupadi Murmu undertook a sea sortie on INS Vagsheer (S26), India's sixth and final Kalvari-class submarine, from Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka. President Murmu, who is the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces, was accompanied by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi and other officials of the Indian Navy.
With this President Murmu has become the first-ever head of the state to undertake a sortie aboard a Kalvari-class submarine. She is also the second head of the state after former President (late) APJ Abdul Kalam to sail in a submarine. Kalam had undertaken a submarine sortie in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam on February 13, 2006.
Earlier, the president had undertaken sortie of two aircrafts of the Indian Air Force (IAF). In April 2023, she took a historic sortie of the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fight jet at the Air Force Station in Assam's Tezpur. The aircraft was flown by 106 Squadron's Commanding Officer Group Captain Naveen Kumar.
Later, on October 29 this year, she undertook a sortie of the Rafale fighter jet at Air Force Station in Haryana's Ambala. The Rafale jet was flown by 17 Squadron's Commanding Officer Group Captain Amit Gehani. With this, Murmu became India's only president to undertake sortie of two fighter jets of the IAF.
"I am delighted to visit Air Force Station Ambala for my maiden flight on Rafale aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The sortie on Rafale is an unforgettable experience for me," Murmu had said following her sortie. "This first flight on the potent Rafale aircraft has instilled in me a renewed sense of pride in the nation's defence capabilities."
Coming to INS Vagsheer, it is a Kalvari-class diesel-electric attack submarine of the Indian Navy that has been built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) of Mumbai under license from France's Naval Group. It can used for conducting anti-surface and anti-submarine operations, and also for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
The induction of INS Vagsheer, which has six weapon launching tubes and can carry 18 weapons including torpedoes and missiles, marks the successful completion of the Project-75.