MiGs: President sends a rocket

While Rashtrapati Bhavan officials say they have no clue as to what was discussed in that meeting, sources said that Kalam asked for a comprehensive report on crashes and remedial action taken by IAF. The report is yet to reach the President.

Kalam’s request has caused a flutter at South Block and Air Headquarters. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has asked the MoD to submit a detailed report on the MiG crashes.

It is understood that the Ministry, on the basis of inputs by Air Headquarters, has informed the PMO that no less than 315 MiG-21 fighters have crashed in the past three decades. On an average there have been around 18 crashes including those of MiG-21 in a year.

A day before the Kalam-Vajpayee meeting, Fernandes had informed the Lok Sabha that since 1992, as many as 229 IAF fighter crashes has taken place. Out of these, 101 were lost due to human error, 95 due to technical defect, 20 due to bird hits and 13 for other reasons.

A harried Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy is now contemplating grounding all those trainee fighter pilots whose record reflects a ‘‘slow learning curve.’’

It is learnt that Krishnaswamy has even written to the Defence Ministry for permission to release the report of the court of inquiry into the July 14, 2003 MIG-21 trainer crash at Srinagar (involving Squadron Commander R Rastogi and Flight Lt Ganeshan) to prove that there is nothing wrong with the Russian aircraft.

Kalam has a reason to be upset. He was the head of the Committee on Fighter Aircraft Accidents (COFAA) that was set up by the Defence Ministry way back in February 1997 to ‘‘identify the causes for increased fighter accidents and to prepare a comprehensive action plan to minimize the losses.’’

In his capacity as Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, Kalam had submitted his report in September 1997 that made a string of recommendations including that on an advanced jet trainer.