New DelhiAt least 152 Indian Air Force pilots and 534 aircraft have been lost in accidents and accidents in the last 30 years, revealed research conducted by aviation expert Anchit Gupta.
Gupta on Saturday posted a tabulation of his findings on Twitter, citing information obtained from the Question and Answer Archives of Parliament from 1989-90. He also cautioned that his findings do not reflect in-depth data from the Air Force.
“This is a crude summary. Yes, it lacks many variables like hours of flight, A/C type etc, but the trend is clear – downwards,” tweeted Gupta, noting that the number of accidents has gradually increased. has decreased.
While accident analysis @IAF_MCC Difficult without in-depth data, I’ve tabulated snippets of information embedded in Parliament Q&As (over decades) and this is a crude summary. Yes, it lacks many variables like hours of flight, A/C type etc but the trend is clear – downward. pic.twitter.com/zYjRNBgNZG
— Anchit Gupta (@AnchitGupta9) 30 July 2022
According to data shared by Gupta, the number of accidents due to aircraft damage ranged between 20 and 30 for most of the 1990s, between 10 and 20 during the 2000s, and between single and double figures by this year. Was.
The downward spiral revealed by Gupta’s findings comes after years of concerns expressed over the safety of Soviet-era MiG-21 aircraft operated by the Indian Air Force. The aircraft is often labeled as a “flying coffin”, a concern for many IAF personnel who have continued to fly it. swear By this, its replacement had arrived, despite the fact that the aircraft had ideally been retired long ago.
most recently Event A MiG-21 was involved, on Thursday night, when a twin-seater MiG-21 trainer aircraft crashed near Barmer in Rajasthan, killing both pilots On board – Wing Commander M. Rana and Flight Lieutenant Advita Bal.
The MiG-21 Bison was also at the center of the deadly crash in May 2021, which killed Squadron Leader Abhinav Choudhary, and an accident in March of that year which Claimed Life of team captain Ashish Gupta.
Phase-I withdrawal of MiG-21
In 2013, Defense Minister AK Antony was quoted in a news report Saying That by April of last year, the IAF had lost more than half of its MiG-21s. At least 482 MiG-21 aircraft were involved in these accidents and 171 pilots, 39 civilians and eight people of other services lost their lives.
In light of these flaws, India had a protracted project to phase out the MiG-21, with the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in the late 1980s to replace the MiG-21.
After decades of delays due to production issues, the IAF now has 40 of the initial lots of Tejas. Last year, the IAF signed a deal worth Rs 48,000 crore for delivery of 83 Tejas Mk 1A.
As of now there are four squadrons of upgraded MiG 21 Bison, one of which will be phased out later this year. The rest will be removed in a phased manner by 2025 when Tejas will start arriving.
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
read also, French Dassault vs US Boeing – Mega fighter deal for IAF and Indian Navy could be split