An Indian Air Force MiG-21 Bison aircraft that took off from a nearby air force station for a training sortie crashed near Nagara village in Bikaner, Rajasthan at 1730 hrs on Wednesday.
The IAF said that the pilot of the crashed aircraft ejected safely. “The aircraft on a training sortie experienced technical malfunction after take-off. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident”, the IAF said.
This is the fourth crash of a MiG-21 aircraft this year. Earlier, in May, a MiG-21 aircraft crashed near Moga in Punjab, in which the pilot, Squadron Leader Abhinav Choudhary, was killed. In March, a group captain of the IAF was killed in an accident involving a MiG-21 Bison aircraft.
The Indian Defence Ministry said that MiG-21 and MiG-27 UPG aircraft will be phased out on the completion of their total calendar life by 2024.
The IAF is facing a shortage of over 200 fighter jets in order to meet the contingencies of a two-front war with China and Pakistan.