Two IAF pilots killed in MiG 21 crash in Barmer belonged to Mandi, Jammu
New Delhi, July 29: Two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots, who were killed in an air crash on Thursday night, belonged to Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Wing Commander M Rana belonged to Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh while Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal hailed from Jammu. They were in the ill-fated MiG 21 fighter jet that crashed near Barmer in southwest Rajasthan abutting Pakistan on late Thursday evening.
The plane was a trainer version of the Russian-origin fighter jet. A trainer version of the jet has two pilots.
The IAF had announced that the two pilots had died, but their pictures and identification were released on Friday morning.
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The IAF has some 70 MiG 21 jets, which are a 1960s design, but the ones being flown are 30-35 years or more in age. The IAF has in the past announced that it intends to phase out the MiG 21 fleet by 2025.
The MiG-21 is a single-engine multirole fighter/ground attack aircraft from the Soviet era that was formerly the backbone of the IAF fleet.
The aircraft has a poor safety record and is anticipated to be retired within the next decade, when it will be replaced by more modern models.
In 1963, the IAF received its first single-engine MiG-21, and it gradually inducted 874 variants of the Soviet-origin supersonic fighters to increase its combat capability. However, during the last six decades, more than 400 MiG-21s have been engaged in accidents that have cost the lives of around 200 pilots.
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According to experts, more MiG-21s have crashed than any other fighter because they comprised the majority of the fighter aircraft in the IAF's inventory for a long time.
Because of the delay in the induction of new fighters, the IAF had to maintain its MiG-21 fleet flying for longer than it would have intended.
-PTC News
