How many Indian Air Force jets have crashed in non-combat incidents over the last five years?
An Indian fighter aircraft, the indigenously developed Tejas, crashed during a demonstration flight at the Dubai Air Show on Friday.
A fireball was seen immediately after the aircraft impacted the ground, with thick black smoke rising from the site of the incident.
In a post on X, the Indian Air Force (IAF) confirmed the death of the pilot in the incident.
This is not the first time an IAF jet has been destroyed in an accident. Here’s a list of crashes reported over the past five years.
2020
February 23: MiG-29K
An IAF MiG-29k crashed off the coast of Goa, The Times of India reported, quoting an Indian Navy spokesperson. The aircraft had been on a routine training sortie.
2021
March 17: MiG-21 Bison
An IAF pilot was killed when his MiG-21 Bison aircraft crashed in central India.
Group Captain A Gupta had taken off for a combat training mission from an airbase before he experienced the fatal accident, an IAF statement said. It added that a court of inquiry had been set up to investigate and determine the cause of the accident.
2022
July 29: MiG-21 Bison
Two pilots were killed in India after a Soviet-era MiG-21 crashed during a training sortie in Rajasthan, the air force said.
The IAF said the training aircraft “met with an accident” and said an investigation was ordered to determine the cause of the crash. Wing Commander M. Rana and Flight Lieutenant Adivitiya Bal were killed.
2023
January 29: Sukhoi Su-30, Dassault Mirage 2000
Two IAF jets crashed, killing one pilot and injuring two others, in an apparent mid-air collision during exercises near the capital city.
The crash involved a Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30, carrying two pilots, and a French-built Mirage 2000, operated by a third. Both aircraft took off from the Gwalior air base, around 50 kilometres east of where they came down.
May 8: MiG-21 Bison
Three people on the ground died near Rajasthan’s Suratgarh area in India when a Russian-made MiG-21 military aircraft suffered an “onboard emergency” and crashed, destroying a house.
The IAF said that the pilot ejected safely and the accident happened shortly after take-off in a routine training sortie.
2024
March 12: HAL Tejas
A domestically made fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed on Tuesday in the western state of Rajasthan, the first such incident since the jet was inducted.
November 4: MiG-29
The IAF reported that a MiG-29 fighter crashed near Agra during a routine training sortie, due to what it called a “system malfunction”.
“The pilot manoeuvered the aircraft to ensure no damage to life or property on ground, before ejecting safely,” the air force wrote on X. “An enquiry [sic] has been ordered by the IAF, to ascertain the cause of the accident.”
2025
July 9: SEPECAT Jaguar
The Indian Air Force (IAF) said two of its pilots were killed as a Jaguar fighter jet crashed near a village in Rajasthan’s Churu district.
The aircraft, originally a British-French-made aircraft, crashed in an agricultural field at around 1:25pm, Rajaldesar Station House Officer Kamlesh told Press Trust of India.
