Digital Desk: The ‘flying coffin’ of the Indian Air Force has been hitting the headlines for a decade. obviously not on a good note.
In 2021 alone, five MiG -21 have crashed in India resulting in the death of three pilots.
A similar incident took the life of Wing Commander Harshit Sinha who was in charge of the doomed jet on Friday, 24th December.
The Indian Air Force has set an inquiry into the matter to find the reason behind the crash.
The ‘widow maker’ has been taking the lives of brave hearts of the Indian Air Force for a long time.
in 2021 alone, five MiG-21s have crashed in India resulting in the death of three pilots.
1. On 17 March, Group Captain Ashish Gupta was killed when his MiG-21 crashed after taking off from the Gwalior airbase.
2. 28 year old, Squadron leader Abhishek Choudhary was killed when his MiG-21 'Bison' crashed on 20 May after taking off from the Suratgarh airbase in Rajasthan.
3. Two other crashes involving MiG-21 'Bison' were seen on 5 January and 25 August.
Also Read: Will Harbhajan Singh join politics?
Interestingly the creator of the ‘Flying Coffin’ the Soviets, don’t use the aircraft anymore, the Soviet Air Force has decommissioned the jet in the year 1985.
So the question arises why India is still putting its soldiers in the ‘coffin’?
As for India, the aircraft inducted into the force in the 60s completed their retirement period in the mid-1990s. Despite this, they are still being upgraded.
In October 2014, the Air Force chief said that India's security is threatened by the delay in removing the old aircraft because some part of the fleet is outdated.
Former Air Force Retired Air Vice Marshal Sunil Nanodkar says, "Was there any other option other than this (MiG aircraft)? to protect your skies, you must have a certain number of combat aircraft, but there was a lot of delay in the induction of other fighter jets into the Air Force over the years.”
According to him the 36 Rafale jets which are commissioned into the Indian Air Force still could not fulfill the demand for air security of the Indian airspace.
Continue Reading
