Purchase of MiG Aircrafts
A total of 872 MiG aircraft of various types were purchased from 1966-1980. The MiG series aircraft were inducted starting from MiG-21 in 1960s/1970s to MiG-29 in 1980s. These aircraft were purchased as per rules/procedures of that period. At present the procurement of capital equipment is carried out as per Defence Procurement Procedure.
The training of initial batches of pilots for MiG series aircraft was carried out in erstwhile USSR, followed by training for the rest of the pilots in India. The procurement cases involving Russian origin MiG-21 Bis& MiG-27 aircraft involved Transfer of Technology (ToT) and license production by HAL.
482 MiG aircraft accidents took place since Financial Year (FY) 1971-72 to FY 2012-13 (till 19th April 2012).
A total of 171 pilots, 39 civilians, 8 service personnel and 1 aircrew lost their lives in these accidents. The causes of accidents were both human error and technical defects.
This information was given by Minister of Defence Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Vijay Jawaharlal Darda in Rajya Sabha today.
PK/NN
(Release ID :82906)