NEW DELHI - The black box of an Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30 combat jet that crashed in April has been “badly damaged” and efforts are underway to retrieve the data contained in it, the Rajya Sabha was informed Wednesday.
“The black box has been badly damaged. There is only one company in the UK that can retrieve the data contained in it. That effort is now underway,” Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju said in reply to a supplementary during question hour.
“Once we find out what went wrong, then rectification can be done,” he added of the April 30 crash of a twin-seat Russian-origin Sukhoi Su-30MKI near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, the first since the aircraft was inducted in the IAF 12 years ago.
The pilot, Wing Commander S.V. Munje, and the co-pilot, Wing Commander P.S. Narah, had managed to bail out in time but the latter was killed after being apparently hit by the falling debris of the aircraft.
Raju did not rule out the “possibility” of technical failure “because of the aircraft’s fly-by-wire technology”, even as he dodged a question on whether the data chip of the jet’s rear seat had been sent to Russia for decoding.
The IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Nair is on record as saying that the ejection mechanism of the rear seat could have been faulty.
Responding to a supplementary on the precautions that were taken before the aircraft took off, Raju said: “There are standard operating procedures that are followed. If there was any disorder, it would have become known.”
“However, once in the air, there is the possibility of malfunctioning because of the aircraft’s fly-by-wire technology,” the minister added.
“A court of enquiry is underway. I cannot reveal anything more till it is completed.”
The issue generated so much heat in the house that Defence Minister A.K. Antony was forced to intervene and state that the IAF was “very happy” with the jet.
“The Su-30 is one of the most advanced jets in the world. The IAF is very happy with it. The IAF feels it is one of the best in the world,” Antony maintained.
The Su-30 was inducted in 1996 and the IAF fleet currently comprises 98 aircraft. This will rise to 230 by 2015, Antony said.
Of the Su-30s in the IAF fleet, some were bought in a fly-away condition from its Russian manufacturer while the others were manufactured under licence by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It was not clear which category the crashed jet belonged to.
The Su-30 has won universal acclaim from the air forces of the US, Britain and France whenever it has been fielded against them in war games. Eight Su-30s had participated in the prestigious Red Flag exercise with the US Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, last year and had more than held their own against their counterparts’ F/A-18 and F-16 combat jets.
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