IAF says the Mirage 2000 aircraft that crashed in Bengaluru Friday was on an ‘acceptance sortie’ after being upgraded by the state-owned HAL.
New Delhi: A Mirage 2000 aircraft crashed within seconds of taking off from the HAL Airport in Bengaluru Friday, killing both pilots and raising serious questions on the upgrade programme being carried out by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Sources said both pilots had ejected from the aircraft, and tragically, one of them landed on the debris of the crashed aircraft.
Indian Air Force spokesperson Group Captain Anupam Banerjee said the aircraft was on an ‘acceptance sortie’ after being upgraded by HAL.
While an investigation has been ordered into the accident, it is a major setback for HAL, which has been at the centre of controversy regarding the purchase of 36 Rafale jets.
One of the reasons that the original deal for the 126 Rafale fighter jets didn’t reach fruition was French manufacturer Dassault Aviation’s refusal to stand guarantee for the aircraft to be manufactured by HAL. Dassault was also the manufacturer of the Mirage fighter jets, which were inducted into the IAF beginning 1985.
Also read: 2 pilots dead after Mirage-2000 IAF trainer aircraft crashes in Bengaluru
History of Mirage crashes
Until 1999, Dassault was in charge of the maintenance of India’s Mirage aircraft. In those 14 years, there were three crashes — the first in 1987, then the crash during an aerobatic display at the Indian Air Force’s 57th anniversary celebration at New Delhi’s Palam Air Force Station on 8 October 1989, and a third on 27 January 1994.
Then, in 1999-2000, the maintenance of the aircraft was handed over to HAL’s Overhaul Division. Since then, there have been seven crashes involving Mirage 2000s, including Friday’s.
The IAF inked a $2.4 billion dollar deal with HAL and Dassault for an extensive upgrade, which would extend the life of the aircraft by another two decades. According to the deal, the first two aircraft were upgraded by Dassault in France and handed over to the IAF in 2015. The company upgraded two more aircraft in India and collaborated with HAL for six more.
On 29 July 2011, HAL was tasked with upgrading 47 jets with the capability to deliver nuclear payload at a cost of Rs 2,020 crore. The final operating capability was scheduled to be completed by July 2017, but was it completed only by March 2018. HAL has revised the contracted production schedule three times.
IAF pilots swear by the Mirage 2000, and point to its good safety record as the reason for this.