Navy grounds Sea Harrier fleet

The Indian Navy has grounded its fleet of Sea Harrier aircraft the only fighter it operates following a fatal crash off the Goa coast last week which claimed the life of one pilot. The Navy operates only 10 of the fighters,including trainers and war reserves,as the aircraft have exceeded their service life and more than half of the fleet has been wiped out due to accidents in recent years.

Navy officers said the decision to ground the aircraft was taken after the unexplained crash and flying would resume only after a board of inquiry gives the go-ahead on the safety of the fighters. Ironically,the crash and grounding of the fleet comes days after Indias lone aircraft carrier,the INS Viraat,came out of an 18-month refit in Kochi. While the Navy had a set of operational fighters earlier,it did not have a carrier to operate them on. The grounding has also put a question mark on the upcoming deployment of INS Viraat to the Gulf countries.