Posted on 02/17/2015 12:01:40 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
NEW DELHI-An Indian Air Force fighter jet crashed Tuesday, a day after the country’s military paraded its might in front of the nation and U.S. President Barack Obama during Republic Day celebrations.
An air force official said the pilot of the single-engine, single-seater MiG-27 aircraft of Russian origin ejected safely before the plane crashed in Barmer, in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan.
“The plane was on a routine mission,” the official said, without elaborating.
The crash highlights the aging equipment of the Indian armed forces. The South Asian country has been seeking to modernize its mainly Soviet-era military equipment to face an increasingly assertive China, as well as Pakistan, but the pace has been dogged by delays on several key projects.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Buy American you H-1B ingrates!
Soviet variable geometry wing at least 30 years old. What could go wrong?
That might be a Mig 24. The 27 has a swing wing.
Actually, make that a Mig 31. The 24 never amounted to much.
“An air force official said the pilot of the single-engine, single-seater MiG-27 aircraft of Russian origin”
I read an article some time back about a secret USAF program during the Cold War called Constant Peg. Basically, it was a program where American pilots would train on captured/acquired Soviet MiGs. Of all the aircraft they had, the 23/27 was the least popular. Most of the pilots hated flying it, and the peculiarities of the plane were such that pilots new to the squadron weren’t allowed to fly it until they cut their teeth on “easier” planes like the MiG-21.
Ahhh..F-14-ski.
I think it predates it - though the 14 was a follow-on (sorta) to General Dynamic’s F-111. Same TF-30’s (A model F-14 - TF-30’s had been used in the 111).
RED FLAG Program? ..not so secret.
“et crashed Tuesday, a day after the country’s military paraded its might in front of the nation and U.S. President Barack Obama”
Kinda like some of the restaurants he frequented crashed, too, closing after he went there.
JET - bad grab of the text
I think this was a different program than Red Flag, though there could be some connection (not sure).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4477th_Test_and_Evaluation_Squadron#History
They spend more on US armaments and commercial aircraft than all India based US outsourcing.
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