MiG-29 crashes being probed: WAC Chief

New Delhi, Nov 25: The Indian Air Force today said it was investigating the reasons for the recent spate of accidents of its primary air superiority fighter -- the MiG29 -- but noted that there was no single cause running all the three recent incidents.

''It is indeed a matter of concern that there have been three accidents of the MiG-29 fighter, which otherwise has a good safety record,'' Western Air Command's chief Air Marshal A K Singh told UNI, on the sidelines of the flag-in function of the force's ''Sadbhavna yatra.'' ''Though the Courts of Inquiry probing this week's accident at Jamnagar and the Ambala crash in end September are still underway and we hope to learn the reasons then, it appears that there was no single reason for the accidents,'' he added.

Air Marshal Singh pointed out that the pieces of the wreckage of the downed planes had been retrieved and were being examined at renowned research institutes, including the National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur and the National Aeronautics Laboratory, Bangalore.

However, senior IAF sources told UNI that there seemed to be some problem in the MiG-29's engine and this was being examined.

''The Mig-29 has approached the time of its mid-life refit.

We are examining all the areas of concern. However, the MiG-29 -- our first air superiority fighter -- has a good track record and has not caused any major concerns of safety,'' they said.

A Mig-29, on a routine night flying sortie, had crashed soon after taking off from Jamnagar airbase last Tuesday, though the pilot managed to eject safely. This followed a crash near Ambala on September 29, while a MiG-29 crashed into the Arabian Sea after taking off from Bhuj airbase on June 29.

The IAF fleet of MiG-29s is otherwise set to be refurbished by the Russian aerospace major RSK-MiG, at a cost of around 900 million dollars.

The MiG-29 upgrade project, already delayed by over two years and now likely to commence only in fiscal 2006-07, was finally sanctioned by the Defence Ministry earlier this year.

The upgrades, envisaged to take four years, will include fitting MiG-29s with upgraded weapons and a new avionics suite, with the old N-019 radar being replaced by the Phazatron Zhuk-M radar, thus giving the refurbished planes an additional 10-15 years of service.

The MiG-29s will also be configured for mid-air refuelling to increase their reach.

UNI