Not grounding Su-30s combat jets post-crash: Parrikar

The Indian Air Force (IAF) doesn't intend to ground its fleet of Sukhoi SU-30MKI combat jets despite a sixth plane crashing in six years, says Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar even as concerns over the frontline fighter continue.

The SU-30 fleet has in the past been grounded thrice after accidents but this would not happen again despite Tuesday's crash of a fighter in Assam.

"We are not grounding the fleet... We can't ground the fleet after every accident," <g data-gr-id="26">Parrkiar</g> told IANS.

The defence minister has, however, called a high-level meeting next week to evaluate the condition of the Sukhoi fleet.

"We will have a meeting next week and discuss the issue," he said.

The IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, is expected to attend the meeting along with his key officers.

The first Russian-made Sukhoi was accepted by the IAF in 2002, and the first indigenously assembled Su-30MKI entered service in 2004.

The first Su-30MKI crashed in the Pokhran region of Rajasthan in April 2009, following which the entire fleet was grounded for around three weeks. The then defence minister, AK Antony, said it was due to <g data-gr-id="30">failure</g> of the fly-by-wire system.

On November 30, 2009, another plane crashed in Rajasthan and the fleet was grounded once again. The crash was attributed to accidental ingestion of a foreign object in the engine intake.