anoop, first of all, no need for sir. rahul will do nicely.
secondly, wikipedia is not a primary source, I can edit that page now to say something completely different (aliens were responsible, say
)
even the points you mentioned, DO NOT point towards "poor service and maintenance" in any way.
It is clearly stated that this was partly because of low-quality spares used {with the break up of SU it was impossible to find spares from OEMs and oftentimes spares were bought from shady sources in order to keep the fleet in the air. what was the alternative, ground the IAF ? how is it the IAF's fault anyway ?}, insufficient pilot training {that's a half-truth really, if the context is not presented. the context being that AJTs were asked for in 1982-83 as the hunters were being retired (committee headed by then Air Marshal La Fontaine). the mig-21 isn't considered ideal for training rookie pilots. please check when the hawk AJT finally arrived in India} and inefficient aircraft health appraisals.
only way to say if an AF has poor standards is to get hold of crash/flight hours data and compare with other air forces. and in that IAF doesn't do poorly AT ALL, considering the generations of fighters it uses.
please, hunt a little on google and check what the crash
rates (not just numbers) are for aircrafts of the Mig-21 generation like the starfighter.
what do you think the original "widowmaker" epithet was for ? it was the mig-21's contemporary, the f-104 starfighter. even the vaunted USAF's F-16s are called 'lawn darts' by its pilots.
the lesson is, every air force that flies has to accept some accidents and crashes. while we should do everything to minimise such events, giving them a bad name on incomplete info (or even worse, half-baked info peddled by DDM) is hugely counter-productive.
Even though this article describes the situation of the Mig 21 family of fighters, the same situation can arise with the other operational jets also.
yes, they can IF this article is true. IAF has an excellent record with the mirage-2000, a moderately good one with the mig-29 and a pretty good one with the mki till now.
so the same situation hasn't arisen and we can therefore conclude that the article is wrong ?
fact remains that the mig-21 is of a generation which crashed more often and considering that it constituted about 50% of IAF fleet, due to obvious reasons the bulk of crashed fighters were 'mig' fighters.
I do not have all the published articles regarding the different crashes, but I do remember reading about maintenance problems in a local daily
that by itself does not prove the IAF has poor maintenance records. *each* and *every* air force has maintenance problems. the only exception is the air force of the vatican and I think you know why ?!
You have also mentioned that IAF may not be at war but it still routinely operates in an extremely hazardous environment. Well, it’s true, but then again that condition does not apply to the IAF alone, any Nation with a fully operational Air Force operates in a hazardous environment.
the condition ABSOLUTELY applies to the IAF as an unique case, if not the only case.
consider, IAF flies from the deserts in rajasthan to the 10000 feet above MSL and higher mountain peaks in the high himalayas to the absolute tropical environment in NE where visibility is often very poor. and then frequently the landing is on tiny dirt strips with no modern facilities.
only the USAF can claim to operate in a similar variety of environments and even they don't operate in the extremely demanding high altitude environment where IAF and AAC regularly operate at a significant tempo.
then again, few air forces have to contend with absolute callousness on the part of civilian authorities like giving permission to setting up abattoirs beside air bases leading to high incidences of bird hits, a significant cause of crashes in the 90's.
then consider the recent case of un-permitted wire bridge across the river in J&K that led to the loss of a helo. it was not the first such incidence either.
which other air force has to deal with such nonsense ? you remove these from the crash list and the IAF attrition rate is only as bad as any other, certainly not any worse.
). .
And there are some good points brought up. Accidents do happen due to seemingly trivial causes at times. I remember reading about a Jag I think that crashed due to a box the pilot carried in the cockpit against orders. So we can guess and guess, but we may be completely off. Does not mean we should not discuss.
