Air Marshal survives Mirage crash

A top Indian Air Force (IAF) officer had a narrow escape on Friday as a French-built Mirage-2000 aircraft crashed. The aircraft was piloted by the Commanding Officer the fighter Squadron and the sortie was part of the 25 years of the aircraft’s induction into the force.

Air Officer Personnel Air Marshal Anil Chopra and Wing Commander Ram Kumar had taken off from Maharajpura airbase in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh and it crashed in the ravines of Bhind, 32 km northeast of Gwalior around 12.10 pm.

“The engine of Mirage aircraft flamed out. Both the pilots tried to recover it but did not succeed,” sources said. Both the pilots managed to bail out in time. 

The sortie was part of the celebrations for 25 years of Mirage induction and Air Marshal Chopra was one of the first pilots to be trained on the fighter jets.

IAF is already going through one of the worst years in terms of fighter jets crashes as nine of its aircraft including its frontline jets known for their safety record like Sukhoi along with the Soviet-vintage MiG series crashed in 2011-12. The Mirage crash is also a setback as the single engine aircraft had a proven safety record in the force with only five crashes in its two and a half decades of service.

“This is the first engine failure of Mirage in the last 25 years,” sources added.

IAF has recently inked a $ 2.4 billion deal with Dassault, the French manufacturers of the aircraft, for upgradation of 51 fighter jets in its inventory. Two of the aircraft has already reached France and the rest 49 aircraft will be refurbished in India over a period of ten years.

IAF had inducted first of the Mirage fighter jets in 1987.  Mirage was renamed “Vajra” meaning “Thunder” in Sanskrit. Mirage has been assigned with nuclear strike role also. In 1999 when the Kargil conflict broke out, Mirage participated in the limited air operations that were undertaken.