New Delhi: The B-52 bomber and F/A 18 Hornet crashes in the US, Tu-22M3 crash in Siberia, MFI-395 Super Mushshak crash in Pakistan and the AN-32 crash in Assam. A spate of incidents involving military aircraft across the globe over the last three days has once again brought to fore the risks attached with military and combat aviation.
In 2024, Pentagon data accessed by The Associated Press revealed that across the US military, the rate of severe accidents per 100,000 flight hours rose 55 percent in 2024, compared to the same number four years earlier.
In India, the crash involving the AN-32 military transport aircraft marked the fourth major incident involving a military aircraft since the beginning of this year, the others being the ALH Dhruv chopper crash near Porbandar which claimed the lives of three personnel in January, a Tejas aircraft overshooting the runway in Gujarat in February, and the Su-30MKI crash in Assam’s Karbi Anglong which claimed the lives of two pilots in March.
Against this backdrop, ThePrint looks at the spate of major incidents around the world involving military aircraft since 13 June.
Also Read: Theaterisation in play: Air Headquarters to control strategic assets
India: 5 killed in AN-32 crash
Five IAF personnel, including two officers, were killed when their Russian-origin Antonov AN-32 transport aircraft crashed while landing at Assam’s Jorhat on 13 June. According to IAF, the twin-engine turboprop aircraft took off from Air Force station Jorhat for a routine sortie, but requested permission to land shortly after taking off.
This was the third major incident involving an AN-32 in a decade.
IAF workhorse AN-32 is an upgraded version of the AN-26, which India first purchased from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1984.
After a 2009 crash involving an AN-32 in Arunachal Pradesh, India had signed a USD 400 million contract with the Ukrainian manufacturer Antonov to upgrade its AN-32s.
But the pace of the upgrade programme, being carried out at the IAF’s base repair depot in Kanpur, using equipment transferred from Ukraine, has been very slow owing to supply chain issues trigerred by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
US: F/A-18 crash triggers wildfire
A US Marine Corps F/A-18 Super Hornet crashed in a National Forest in southern Washington state on 13 June. The pilot ejected in time and survived the crash with minor injuries, but the crash triggered a wildfire.
The aircraft belonged to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 312 (VMFA-312). Also known as the ‘Checkerboards’, this squadron is based at South Carolina’s Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.
A statement from the squadron described the incident as a “non-fatal aviation mishap” during “routine training”.
The F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole aircraft, capable of both air and ground attacks.
US: 8 killed in B-52 bomber crash
Eight people, including two Boeing employees, were killed after a US Air Force B-52 bomber crashed immediately after take-off from Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California on 15 June.
According to Colonel James Hayes, Deputy Commander at 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, the aircraft was supporting radar modernisation at the base and was on a routine test mission when it crashed.
Boeing unveiled the B-52 Stratofortress in the 1950s.
The long-range strategic bomber was deployed to bomb strategic sites in Iran, including the underground uranium enrichment facility Fordow last year. The B-52 is capable of flying up to 50,000 ft with a 32,000 kg payload.
Siberia: Tu-22M3 crashes during training exercise
Four crew members of a Russian Tupolev (Tu-22M3) bomber ejected safely after a crash during a training flight in Siberia’s Irkutsk region on 15 June.
The aircraft was not carrying any combat load.
Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said preliminary information pointed to engine failure as the likely cause of the crash.
Russia has deployed Tu-22, code-named “Backfire” by NATO, in combat in Syria and Ukraine.
The Soviet-era supersonic bomber is an upgraded version that can carry Kh-22 cruise missiles as well as air-launched hypersonic Kinzhal missiles.
Pakistan: 2 killed in trainer aircraft crash
A routine sortie turned deadly on 15 June when a trainer aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force crashed near Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing both pilots onboard and injuring two civilians. The PAF has constituted a board of enquiry to determine the cause of the incident. The type of trainer aircraft has yet to be officially disclosed.
Earlier, on 10 June, at least 22 Pakistan Army personnel were killed when a Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Muzaffarabad during take-off due to a “technical fault”.
A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the accident, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Pakistan has long relied on Soviet-made Mi-17 helicopters as transport workhorses for high-altitude deployments. Over the years, Pakistan has upgraded 22 of its Mi-17 helicopters with assistance from the United States.
Anmol Kapil is an alum of ThePrint School of Journalism, currently interning with ThePrint.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: IAF isn’t India’s courier service—3 reasons it ideally shouldn’t fly NEET papers