Thirty Indian Air Force planes have met with crashes since 2011, costing the the country over Rs 1,160 crore and the main reasons are human and technical error, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said.
Statistics given by him show the number of accidents have come down over the years.
The maximum number of crashes had taken place in 2011-12, when 13 aircraft were lost.
Six crashed in 2012-13 and an equal number in 2013-14 and in 2014 so far, five crashes have taken place.
Among the aircraft that crashed, three were Su-30s, two Mirage 2000s, four Jaguars, three Mig-29s, one Mig-27, and eight Mig-21s which have often being described as "flying coffins".
"The loss to the government assessed so far is estimated at Rs.1,161.50 crore in terms of value of the crashed aircraft," Parrikar said.
The Minister added every IAF aircraft accident is thoroughly investigated by a Court of Inquiry (CoI) to ascertain the cause of accident and the recommendations of the completed CoI are implemented.
"The main reasons for these accidents were human error and technical defect," he said.
Besides these crashes, two Mi-17 helicopters of IAF were destroyed during relief operations, one in 2011-12 and another in 2013-14.
"IAF aircraft accidents during such operations in aid of civil agencies are not included in the statistics maintained for aircraft accidents," the written reply said.
