A MiG-29 multirole fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed during a training mission near Punjab’s Jalandhar today.
The pilot ejected safely. He was soon taken away in a rescue helicopter, the IAF said in a statement.
“The aircraft had developed a technical snag and the pilot ejected safely as he was unable to control the aircraft. The pilot has been rescued by a helicopter. A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of accident,” the IAF said.
According to officials, the aircraft took off from Adampur Air Force base in Jalandhar. Two fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the fire. An IAF official said that the plane was on a training mission.
The MiG-29 is a Soviet-era fighter jet that has seen action in the Kargil war in 1999. It has also been used to escort other jets on bombing missions from incoming “bandits” or enemy fighter jets.
The IAF operates over 60 MiG-29s, all of which have been upgraded with advanced avionics and better weapons to convert them into multirole jets that can perform air-to-air and air-to-ground missions equally well.
