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MiG-21 Crashes in India

: Jun 15, 2014 - : 1:12 am

A MiG-21 fighter of Indian air force (IAF) crashed  in the Himalayan border state of Jammu and Kashmir, killing the pilot.

The latest crash on May 27 has once again put into spotlight the urgent need to replace the aging fleet of the Soviet-era fighters.

 The accident took place near Awantipur airbase in the south of the state, at 10:48 a.m. local time while the single-seater MiG-21 Bison was on a routine training sortie after taking off from the Technical Airport in Srinagar city, a senior IAF official says.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.  A court of inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the accident, the IAF official says.

MiG-21s have been the fight muscle of India’s air force for 50 years with nearly 1,000 MiGs in the fleet. IAF officials point out that the MiG-21 is a demanding aircraft, with landing and takeoff speeds much greater than the other aircraft in the IAF inventory.

The IAF first bought the MiG-21 in 1961 and has operated more than 400 of them since then.

However, frequent crashes in the past years pressed the Indian government to phase out some of the oldest MiGs in the fleet and upgrade its weaponry.

More than 100 fighters were lost in crashes between 1993 and 2002. During the last ten years (2003-2013), 38 MiG-21 aircraft accidents have taken place, most of which occurred due to pilot inexperience, technical defense and bird hit, according to India’s defense ministry.

India plans to retire the more than 100 MiG-21s currently in its fleet by 2017.

Before the phase-out, the IAF plans to begin inducting its new Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) worth nearly $11 billion, which is expected to be finalized later this year.

India, the world’s biggest arms importer, plans to spend $100 billion over a decade to improve its military, possibly through joint venture between foreign and local companies.

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