NEWS
The entire fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) frontline fighter jets Sukhoi-30 MKI was grounded following a crash on Monday (November 30), an official on Wednesday (December 2) said. “The Sukhoi fleet has been grounded for preliminary checks required after any crash. The fleet will be airborne as and when the mandatory checks are complete,” said an IAF spokesperson. The Sukhoi-30 MKI, belonging to 31 Squadron based at the IAF station in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, crashed southwest of Pokhran in Rajasthan at 5.30 pm Monday. The pilots, Wing Commander Srivastava and Flight Lieutenant Arora, ejected safely.

VIEWS
Inducted in 1996, the IAF operates six squadrons (105 aircraft) of Su-30MKIs, the most potent and lethal air dominance fighter in its inventory. Current orders with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) indicate the IAF plans to build a fleet strength of up to 230 such aircraft valued at $9 billion (Rs 41,985 crore) by 2015, three years earlier than originally planned. Delay in the induction of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft or in the decision by the government on the procurement of the 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft could compel the IAF to seek further augmentation of its fleet of combat aircraft with additional Su-30MKIs.

During its brief tenure with the IAF, the Su-30MKI has emerged with flying colours and has done the IAF proud when pitted against the air forces from the US, Britain and France during international air exercises. What is perhaps most disconcerting is that the Jaisalmer crash comes soon after President Pratibha Patil performed the extraordinary feat of flying in an Su-30MKI. No doubt, the Original Equipment Manufacturer Sukhoi would view the President’s flight as an event of profound significance, occurring as it did in the “India Year in Russia” as also a reflection of the level of confidence in Russian hardware, young Indian women aspiring to be combat pilots would certainly derive inspiration from this daring act. However, the issue plaguing the Indian mind is whether the President of India and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces was exposed to unwarranted risk for the second time (the first when former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam performed a similar feat). What is likely to aggravate the IAF’s discomfiture is that the approximately Rs 250-crore machine that was lost was one of those manufactured at HAL, Nasik.

The accident, the second this year on the Su-30MKI, deals another serious blow to the otherwise respectable air safety record established in its 13 years of service with the IAF. In April, an Su-30MKI had gone down in the same area supposedly owing to failure of its sophisticated fly-by-wire system. Findings of the Court of Inquiry were, however, not conclusive and many among the operators believe that it was a design flaw that led to inadvertent and incorrect operation of switches by one of the pilots leading to the crash.