2 IAF aircraft crash in UP, Raj

aircraft belonging to the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, raising concerns over the competency of the country’s aerial combat facilities.

In the first incident, a Sukhoi-30 fighter crashed in Rajasthan’s Barmer district on Wednesday – raising the number of accidents pertaining to the Russian-origin aircraft to seven since 2009.

Defence spokesperson Manish Ozha said the fighter, which was on a training sortie, allegedly developed a snag around noon. Though both the pilots managed to eject safely, the jet crashed in a residential area – injuring three members of a family.

In the second incident, a Chetak helicopter toppled over while making an emergency landing on an uneven field at Gauspur Kautala village after developing a technical snag about a kilometre from the Basic Flying Training School at Bamrauli airbase on Wednesday morning. Both the pilots escaped unhurt.

“The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to ascertain the cause of the chopper accident,” said Allahabad PRO (defence) group captain BB Pandey. Officials said the incident occurred while a trainee pilot was being tutored by an IAF instructor.

The Su-30 crash comes at a time when the IAF is struggling to fill its gaps in combat capabilities.