New Delhi: A day after a MiG-21 Bison combat jet crashed near Srinagar killing the pilot, the Indian Air Force (IAF) continued to fly the aircraft, though the accident has come as a grim reminder of the rapidly falling number of the fighter plane fleet to the new Narendra Modi Government.
MiG-21s now make up for more than one-third of IAF’s fleet strength.
The IAF has only 32 fighter squadrons out of the sanctioned 42. Of the around 640 combat jets that the IAF has in its fleet, over 200 are MiG-21s.
“The MiG-21s flew today (Wednesday) too,” an IAF officer said here when asked about it, though he admitted that the MiG-21 fleet was important to maintain the combat squadron strength levels.
The IAF has already rolled out plans to phase out the ageing Soviet-era, 1960s vintage MiG-21s by 2017, anticipating the induction of 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), for which India has already chosen the French ‘Rafale’ plane from the Dassault Aviation stable.
29/05/14 New Indian Express
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
MiG-21s now make up for more than one-third of IAF’s fleet strength.
The IAF has only 32 fighter squadrons out of the sanctioned 42. Of the around 640 combat jets that the IAF has in its fleet, over 200 are MiG-21s.
“The MiG-21s flew today (Wednesday) too,” an IAF officer said here when asked about it, though he admitted that the MiG-21 fleet was important to maintain the combat squadron strength levels.
The IAF has already rolled out plans to phase out the ageing Soviet-era, 1960s vintage MiG-21s by 2017, anticipating the induction of 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), for which India has already chosen the French ‘Rafale’ plane from the Dassault Aviation stable.
29/05/14 New Indian Express
