Defence Ministry surprised over crash of Su-30

New Delhi, Dec 14: Defence Ministry today said it was surprised over the crash of one of its frontline Su-30MKI fighter aircarft, which are the latest and most-advanced war planes in IAF inventory, and ordered a probe into it.

"I am surprised that an aircraft of this type has crashed... We will certaily look into the reasons for this. A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been order to look into the reasons behind the crash," Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju told reporters here.

The Minister was asked to comment on the air crash involving the Su-30MKI aircraft which happened yesterday near Pune.

The Su-30s fighter aircraft were inducted into the IAF in the late 90s and the advanced 'MKI' version of the planes started being inducted in the early part of the millenium and are considered to be new in service.

The particular aircraft which crashed yesterday was built in the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The aircraft had taken off from the Lohegaon airbase on a routine mission, presumably developed a technical snag and crashed at Wade Bholai village, about 20 km from Pune. Both the pilots ejected to safety.

The jet crashed at 1.30 pm, around 50 minutes after it took off, officials said. This is the third time a Sukhoi fighter plane crashed since their induction into the IAF.

PTI