From Jaguar to AN-32, IAF lost nearly 10 aircraft this year

The Indian Air Force has lost nearly 10 aircraft this year, the latest being an AN-32, whose wreckage was spotted on Tuesday in a heavily- forested mountainous terrain in Arunachal Pradesh, eight days after it went missing after taking off from Assam's Jorhat.

From Mirage 2000 to MiG-27, many of these aircraft had crashed in the month of February, officials said.

In January, a Jaguar aircraft of the Indian Air Force had crashed in Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar district, with the pilot ejecting safely, local police had said.

The military aircraft had crashed soon after taking off on a routine mission from the Gorakhpur Air Force Station.

District magistrate Anil Kumar Singh had then said, the incident took place around noon time when the pilot had sensed some problem in the plane and turned it towards a safe destination before jumping to safety.

On February 19, a pilot was killed and two others had ejected to safety when two aircraft of IAF's aerobatic team Surya Kiran crashed near the Yelahanka airbase in Bengaluru, a day before the opening of the Aero India show.

The two Hawk aeroplanes had collided mid-air and crashed, killing Wg Cdr Sahil Gandhi and injuring Wg Cdr V T Shelke and Sqn Ldr T J Singh.

Earlier in February, a Mirage 2000 aircraft of the IAF had crashed at the HAL airport in Bengaluru killing a pilot on the spot and leaving another critically injured, police had said.

The HAL, in a statement, had said the incident occurred at 10.30 am during a sortie.

In the same month, a MIG-27 fighter aircraft of IAF had crashed in Eta village in Pokaran tehsil of Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district, a defence official had said.

"A MIG-27 aircraft airborne from Jaisalmer crashed during a routine mission today evening. Pilot ejected safely. A Court of Inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident," defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh had said after the incident.

A MiG-21 Bison of the IAF, piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman