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05-02-2012, 08:53 PM
India’s MiGs Had 482 Accidents in 30 Years: Study
May. 2, 2012 - 11:10AM |
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/mig21_5.jpg
NEW DELHI — Dubbed “flying coffins” or “widow makers” in the air force, India’s aging collection of Soviet-era MiGs have long been unpopular with air force pilots.
New figures unveiled May 2 show why. India’s Defense Minister A.K. Antony said there had been 482 accidents in the last 30 years resulting in the deaths of 171 pilots and 39 civilians.
The MiG fleet is now 873 strong. New Delhi’s acquisitions began in 1966 with MiG-21 interceptors, and the next two decades saw the induction of the high-speed MiG 25, ground-attack MiG27 and the fourth-generation MiG-29 fighter jets into the country’s air force.
Experts say a majority of the accidents involved India’s single-engine MiG-21, a combat airplane that has been flown by some 50 countries since it was developed by then Soviet Union in the 1950s.
“A total of 171 pilots, 39 civilians, eight service personnel and one air crew lost their lives in these accidents,” the defense minister told parliament in reference to the period from 1971 to April 19 this year. The accidents were blamed on “human error and technical defects.”
Antony in February said that the air force would start phasing out its mainstay MiG-21s, which make up 40 percent of its total fleet, beginning in 2014.
Recurring crashes involving the single-engine MiG-21 inspired Bollywood film “Rang De Basanti” (Color It Saffron) in 2006 and sparked a spirited campaign in 2003 by relatives of a killed pilot for the war jets’ scrapping.
India plans to replace its MiGs with 123 modern aircraft in a deal worth$12 billion.
France’s Dassault Aviation in January won the right to enter exclusive negotiations to sell its Rafale planes. Price negotiations are currently underway between the French firm and India.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120502/DEFREG03/305020002/India-8217-s-MiGs-Had-482-Accidents-30-Years-Study?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
May. 2, 2012 - 11:10AM |
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/mig21_5.jpg
NEW DELHI — Dubbed “flying coffins” or “widow makers” in the air force, India’s aging collection of Soviet-era MiGs have long been unpopular with air force pilots.
New figures unveiled May 2 show why. India’s Defense Minister A.K. Antony said there had been 482 accidents in the last 30 years resulting in the deaths of 171 pilots and 39 civilians.
The MiG fleet is now 873 strong. New Delhi’s acquisitions began in 1966 with MiG-21 interceptors, and the next two decades saw the induction of the high-speed MiG 25, ground-attack MiG27 and the fourth-generation MiG-29 fighter jets into the country’s air force.
Experts say a majority of the accidents involved India’s single-engine MiG-21, a combat airplane that has been flown by some 50 countries since it was developed by then Soviet Union in the 1950s.
“A total of 171 pilots, 39 civilians, eight service personnel and one air crew lost their lives in these accidents,” the defense minister told parliament in reference to the period from 1971 to April 19 this year. The accidents were blamed on “human error and technical defects.”
Antony in February said that the air force would start phasing out its mainstay MiG-21s, which make up 40 percent of its total fleet, beginning in 2014.
Recurring crashes involving the single-engine MiG-21 inspired Bollywood film “Rang De Basanti” (Color It Saffron) in 2006 and sparked a spirited campaign in 2003 by relatives of a killed pilot for the war jets’ scrapping.
India plans to replace its MiGs with 123 modern aircraft in a deal worth$12 billion.
France’s Dassault Aviation in January won the right to enter exclusive negotiations to sell its Rafale planes. Price negotiations are currently underway between the French firm and India.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120502/DEFREG03/305020002/India-8217-s-MiGs-Had-482-Accidents-30-Years-Study?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE