Question : Crashes of Fighter Aircraft

(a) the total number of fighter aircraft including Sukhoi, MIG and Jaguar of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed during each of the last three years and the current year along with the reasons therefor;

(b) the number of IAF personnel, civilians injured or lost their lives in such accidents along with the loss caused to the Government and civilian property as a result thereof;

(c) the details of compensation provided to the victims of such accidents during the said period, accident-wise;

(d) whether the Government has conducted investigation into the causes for these crashes, if so, the details and the outcome thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the measures taken by the Government to prevent such accidents?

MINISTER OF DEFENCE (SHRI MANOHAR PARRIKAR)

(a) During the last three years and the current year (upto 20.07.2015) a total of 20 fighter aircraft (03 Sukhoi, 12 MiG and 05 Jaguar) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have crashed as per the details below:

Year No. of fighter aircraft crashed

Sukhoi MiG Jaguar Total

2012-13 01 02 01 04
2013-14 -- 05 01 06
2014-15 01 04 02 07
2015-16
(upto 20.07.2015) 01 01 01 03

The main reasons for the crashes were Technical Defect and Human Error.

(b) 02 IAF personnel were killed and 02 civilian injured in these accidents. The loss to the Government, in terms of value of aircraft and service property, in respect of 12 accidents assessed so far is estimated at Rs.386 crore and loss to civilian property is Rs.4,43,800/-.

(c) Ex-gratia amount paid as compensation to the victims, accident-wise is as under:

Date of accident Aircraft crashed IAF Personnel killed Civilian injured Amount paid
(in Rs.)

12.02.2013 MiG-27 -- 01 5,000
15.07.2013 MiG-21 01 -- 10,00,000
27.05.2014 MiG-21 01 -- 10,00,000

(d) & (e): Every IAF aircraft accident / incident is thoroughly investigated by a Court of Inquiry (CoI) to ascertain the cause of accident and the recommendations of the completed Court of Inquiry are implemented. Various preventive measures like invigoration of Aviation Safety Organization, streamlining of accident reporting procedure, analytical studies and quality audits of the aircraft fleets to identify vulnerable areas have been taken to reduce aircraft accidents. Accident prevention programmes have also been given an added thrust to identify risk prone / hazardous areas specific to the aircraft fleets and operational environment to ensure safe practice / procedures.

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