Seven aircraft of Air Force have crashed in last two years, including the Mirage 2000: Minister

New Delhi: Seven aircraft of the Indian Air Force have crashed in the last two years, the government said in Lok Sabha on Friday.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, replying to a question, said every aircraft accident in the IAF is investigated by a separate Court of Inquiry (Col).

"A total of seven aircraft of Air Force have crashed in the last two years, including the Mirage-2000 which crashed recently in Madhya Pradesh," he said.

Mr Bhatt said the Court of Inquiry is ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident and the recommendations of the investigations are implemented.

"The steps taken by the government to avoid such incidents in the future include invigoration of aerospace safety organisation, maintaining a database of accidents and incidents, improving training methodology and increased use of simulators," he said.

Asked about steps being taken by the government to boost the country's security, he cited several measures including the creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff.

"Various steps have been taken by the Government from time to time to strengthen the security of the country. Towards this, the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was created in December 2019," he said in the written reply.

Mr Bhatt said the CDS has been mandated to carry out integration and jointness in the armed forces including the creation of integrated theatre commands.

He said the CDS has also been made permanent Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee, adding a separate Department of Military Affairs (DMA) has been created to look after the matters related to Army, Indian Air Force and the Navy and jointness amongst the three services.

"Further, modernisation, upgradation and sustenance of military equipment and weapons is taken up from time to time to equip the armed forces with modern weapon systems/equipment under various procurement provisions," he said.