NEW DELHI: In yet another crash in the armed forces, a naval MiG-29K fighter jet crashed off the Goa coast after a technical malfunction on Wednesday morning. The pilot, fortunately, managed to eject safely. The twin-engine MiG-29K, being flown by a commander-rank officer, was returning to land at the INS Hansa base at Goa after a routine sortie in the morning when the jet “developed a technical malfunction”.
“The pilot ejected safely and was rescued in a swift helicopter search and rescue operation. He is in stable condition. The Navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry to investigate the cause of the incident,” an officer said.
With this crash, the Navy now has 40 of the 45 supersonic MiG-29Ks inducted from Russia at a cost of $2 billion from 2009-2010 onwards to operate from the deck of the 44,500-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, which cost another $2.33 billion. The operational serviceability of the MiG-29K fighters, four of which have crashed in the last four years, has been a problem. The Navy is now actively hunting for an additional 26 carrier-based fighters after the commissioning of the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, the 45,000-tonne INS Vikrant, on September 2.
INS Vikrant will become fully combat-ready after the MiG-29Ks complete crucial flight trials from her sprawling deck by around mid-2023. She is equipped with high-tech weapons like the Israeli-origin 80-km range Barak-8 surface-to-air missile systems.
“The pilot ejected safely and was rescued in a swift helicopter search and rescue operation. He is in stable condition. The Navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry to investigate the cause of the incident,” an officer said.
With this crash, the Navy now has 40 of the 45 supersonic MiG-29Ks inducted from Russia at a cost of $2 billion from 2009-2010 onwards to operate from the deck of the 44,500-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, which cost another $2.33 billion. The operational serviceability of the MiG-29K fighters, four of which have crashed in the last four years, has been a problem. The Navy is now actively hunting for an additional 26 carrier-based fighters after the commissioning of the country’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, the 45,000-tonne INS Vikrant, on September 2.
INS Vikrant will become fully combat-ready after the MiG-29Ks complete crucial flight trials from her sprawling deck by around mid-2023. She is equipped with high-tech weapons like the Israeli-origin 80-km range Barak-8 surface-to-air missile systems.
