E-Paper
MIG-21:Best fighter in the air
It takes some guts to depict politicians as corrupt and attribute the unprecedented crashes of MIG-21 fighter aircraft which the Indian Air Force has suffered in the last decade or so, to spurious defence deals and Neta -Babu nexus in ministry of defence.This is exactly what the latest Amir Khan produced picture ' Rang De Basanti' has reportedly done.
It takes some guts to depict politicians as corrupt and attribute the unprecedented crashes of MIG-21 fighter aircraft which the Indian Air Force has suffered in the last decade or so, to spurious defence deals and Neta -Babu nexus in ministry of defence.This is exactly what the latest Amir Khan produced picture ' Rang De Basanti' has reportedly done. No surprise than for the Armed Forces to have their hackles up. Before release, the picture was specially screened for the Defence Minister and the three service chiefs who in their magnanimity did not recommend any major cuts . nevertheless it did generate some animated discussion in the media.
First and foremost Aamir Khan needs to be applauded for bringing to the Indian public,through the medium of a movie, an issue directly related to national security of India which has been till date talked about only in limited circles that also behind closed doors. More awareness in Indian public on such issues will definitely auger well for the security of the country and bring accountability in Indian Politicians and bureaucrats. However what is important is that all these issues must be well researched and fully supported by facts before presentation.
MIG-21 fighter aircraft is one of the best fighters ever produced by the erstwhile Soviet Union way back in sixties. There are almost 2000 of these fighters still flying in various Air forces of the world. It joined Indian Air Force four decades back in large numbers and was its main workhorse. Thereafter this fighter was license produced in India only in HAL.The MIG-21 crashes started in IAF a decade and half back. Till date, approximately 227 MIG-21's have crashed killing 100 young pilots. Indian Air Force has still got about 321 MIG-21 fighter aircrafts in its inventory who have done only 1600 to 1700 flying hours while their life span is 3000 flying hours. In other words they have lot of life left and cannot be phased out in such large numbers.
La Fontaine Committee set up a decade back to investigate these high crash rates had attributed them to bird hits, pilot error and maintenance failures. MIG-21 is a difficult to fly and does not permit mistakes. IAF pilots get their basic training in ' Icara' and ' Kiran' fighter aircraft, which are subsonic. After the phasing out of flyer friendly ' Hunter' fighter aircrafts, there were no aircrafts available with the IAF in the intermediate range to train the pilots before they took on Mach-2 supersonic aircraft like the MIG-21. Indian Air Force has been crying horse for the last decade or so for the purchase of an Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT).
The Government identified British ' Hawk' but the deal was allowed to hang on for more than a decade. Every query concerning their purchase from the IAF got a set answer from the bureaucrat's in the MOD that the correct price is being negotiated. In the bargain many more crashes were allowed to take place and that many more pilots died. It is only last year that we have signed this deal with the British. What did we gain by these long drawn price negotiations if in the bargain we lost that many more aircrafts and the priceless lives of the trained pilots?
Question does come to mind whether this delay really was due to the simple reason of price negotiation or was there something more to it? It is common knowledge that on every major arms purchase deal the Arms manufacturer provides the concerned party a good will money package gift. This package normally finds its way in the coffers of the party in power.
After all they have to fight elections. It does not mean that in the bargain the Arms dealer will not provide the best product. The product does not complain.So the Armed Forces remain happy because they get the toy that they want and the party in power is happy because election is money's game.
After the break up of the Soviet Union,the supply of space parts of the MIG-21 became scarce and very expensive. At that time India purchased a large consignment of spares from Ukraine at normal rates. Reportedly Ukraine gave India used and second hand spares after a fresh coat of paint.
Whether India was duped or it happened by design is something that only an enquiry can unravel but these faulty parts did cause lot of accidents. Another reason for these accidents accidents have been the indifferent quality control exercised in various production units of the HAL a PSU.Recent grounding of Indian made and much tom tomed helicopter 'Dhruva' due to faulty tail unit is a case in point.
Indian Air Force is now claiming that it has brought down the accident rate of MIG-21 by almost 50% by proactive flight safety measures,better pilot training, large scale use of simulators and close interaction with the manufacturers. So far so good. All said and done Mr. Amir khan has made a good start in making Indian Public more alive to national security needs. There is no doubt that more such well researched efforts will bring in more accountability in those people who frame the Indian destiny,sitting on exalted platforms in a hush hush environment.
