Are IAF's Mirage 2000 the new flying coffins ? 2nd crash in as many weeks

Singh

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What the hell ? Didn't we just undergo a 3billion$ upgrade for the M2Ks ?

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A Mirage 2000 fighter plane today crashed in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur district and its two pilots ejected safely — the second mishap involving the aircraft type in 11 days which prompted the IAF to stop flying the entire fleet and subject it to preliminary checks.

The accident occured soon after the twin-seater plane took off from an airbase in Gwalior. The crash took place at 1254 hours near Baman Baas village, 100 kilometres south-west of Jaipur, a defence spokesperson said.

This is second Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft to crash since February 24.

"Preliminary checks have been ordered to check the aircraft and all of its systems. The fleet of Mirage-2000 will start flying after the checks are over," IAF officials said in Delhi.

The defence spokesperson said in Jaipur, "The pilots, Squadron Leader Raj and Flight Lieutenant Kanav, who got airborne from Gwalior airbase for routine flying sortie, ejected safely."

He said, "There is no reported damage to the life or civilian property." Soon after the mishap, IAF and Army teams reached the site of the accident and the pilots were attended to for injuries, he said.

A court of inquiry (CoI) has been ordered to ascertain the reason for the crash, the spokesperson said, adding that material from the accident site was being collected for the probe.

Superintendent of Police, Sawai Madhopur, Anshuman Singh said a police party was at the crash spot which was located in a hilly area.

This is the third crash involving an IAF aircraft this year. A Kiran MK II trainer plane had crashed in Chennai on January 30.

The second crash involving a Mirage-2000 aircraft took place on February 24 near Bhind in Madhya Pradesh. The aircraft was being flown by Air Marshal Anil Chopra and Wing Commander Ram Kumar who had got airborne from Gwalior airbase for a routine flying mission at 1201 hours.

Within five minutes of taking off, the plane developed a technical snag and crashed in a forested area. The two pilots had ejected safely and a CoI was ordered to ascertain the reason for the accident.

Today's mishap is the eighth crash of a fighter aircraft in this financial year. Most of the other accidents involved the MiG 21 series planes.

After the losses, the Air Force has 49 Mirage planes which are based in Maharajpura airbase in Gwalior.

These aircraft started getting inducted into the IAF in the mid-80s and have had a generally good flight safety record, the officials said.

The IAF has also recently signed two deals worth over $3.2 billion for upgrading the capabilities of the Mirage 2000 with French companies Dassault, Thales and MBDA.


Mirage 2000 crashes, aircraft fleet to fly again after checks - India - DNA
 

Dovah

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Didn't we just undergo a 3billion$ upgrade for the M2Ks ?
I think we only signed the deal...the upgrade hasn't commenced as of yet. :notsure:
 

Singh

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FACEPALM

We just started paying 'em yesterday.

India makes payments to French firm to upgrade Mirage fleet

PTI | Mar 7, 2012, 09.36PM IST


NEW DELHI: India has started making payments to French defence major Dassault Aviation for upgrading its fleet of Mirage 2000 aircraft under a deal worth $2.4 billion.

The Indian government has started making payments for the deal to upgrade the Mirage aircraft, sources said.

As a result of the payments released for the deal by India, the price of dollar was impacted upon in the exchange today.

As per the proposal, French firms Dassault and Thales will upgrade the aircraft, which will add 20-25 years to the life of the Mirages, inducted by the IAF in the mid-80s.

Two different proposals, one for the upgrade of systems of the aircraft and the other for over 400 MICA missiles for the upgraded fleet, were placed before the CCS.

Under the deal, the French firms will help in upgrading the avionics, navigation systems, mission computers, electronic warfare systems and radars bringing the aircraft to the Mirage-2000-5 standards.

The French companies will have to invest over $900 million into the Indian defence sector as defence offsets.

As per the Indian defence offsets policy, foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore have to invest at least 30% of the worth of the deal back into the Indian defence, civilian aerospace and homeland security sectors.

As per the agreement, India has sent two of its aircraft to France for upgrades and thereafter the rest would be upgraded at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited facilities.

India makes payments to French firm to upgrade Mirage fleet - The Times of India
 

Neil

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were both the M2Ks TH version...??
 

arya

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not a good thing , well thats why we need regular modification & updation required
 

agentperry

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we fly handful number of mirage and the losses we are seeing these days are surely troubling. ok fine India is getting rafales and su-30 but this is not the way we need to handle old guys. they are still potent and need good care. anyway loss is a loss and needs to be replaced asap.
 

Killswitch

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Single engine aircraft has a tendency to crash more often due to a lack of redundancy. If you lose your engine that's it, you crash. Hopefully things will be better with the dual engine Rafale.
 

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