Two MiG-21 aircraft, including the first of the newly inducted upgraded MiG-21 Bis-93, crashed today. The crash came barely a week before the first squadron of the upgraded aircraft is to be inaugurated by Chief of Air Staff S. Krishnaswamy.The crashes also come embarrassingly close to Russian allegations that India was purchasing sub-standard spares and equipment from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) vendors, a charge that the Indian Air Force (IAF) vehemently denies. ‘‘In both the cases, engine failure is suspected to be the cause of the crashes,’’ an IAF source said. The two aircraft crashed near Jodhpur and Ambala.The IAF is currently upgrading 125 MiG-21 Bis-93 aircraft. The first two upgrades were carried out in Russia which will give the aircraft improved navigation and armaments. The integration process which included new avionics, head up display and radars delayed the project by over two years since some components were sourced from Russia and the others from Israel, France and India.The entire MiG-21 fighter fleet with the R-25 engines had been grounded in May after a series of crashes — including one that claimed the life of Squadron leader Prashant Bundela, the pilot who had shot down the Pakistani Atlantique aircraft over Gujarat.The present crashes today also occurred in the R-25 engine aircraft, sources added. The IAF has summoned a high-level team of officials from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to probe the crash, especially of the newly inducted upgraded aircraft which is also powered by the R-25 engine.‘‘We have purchased second-hand (reconditioned) engines, spares and other equipment but only after they had passed strict quality control checks. Since MiG-21 are no longer under production in Russia, we had a problem in spares’ purchases for some time. Now that we are in touch with the original equipment manufacturers outside Russia, there will be no problems. India and Russia have also negotiated an agreement under which spare manufacturing units will be set up in India itself,’’ officials in the Ministry of Defence said.MiG-21 aircraft which were first inducted before the 1965 Indo-Pak conflict were given another lease of life when the Light Combat Aircraft project was delayed by a decade. The MiG-21 are the mainstay of the IAF with half the IAF squadrons comprising the three MiG-21 variants.
