Our Air Force has suffered a big loss in terms of precious lives of five airmen and the C-13J aircraft in an air crash that happened recently near Gwalior. The aircraft was on routine training flight when it met with the accident. Induction of C-17J aircrafts into Indian Air Force was part of the policy of streamlining the IAF and making it battle ready. Six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft were bought from the US at the cost of around Rs 5,781 crore (USD 962 million) three years ago. Per unit cost of the aircraft comes to around Rs 965 crore.
It is very discouraging that an aircraft with such modern appendages should have crashed taking the lives of five officers of the Air Force. An inquiry into the crash will be held but the nation is sad that it has lost five Air force officers which is a national loss. The Government needs to convince the nation that these aircrafts are not defective and are technically sound for deployment. Normally such accidents should not happen. The Defence Ministry appears to have discussed thoroughly the pros and cons of going in for this aircraft and its utility in a mountainous region. This was the air craft that would be lifting army personnel to border areas and rendering crucial service for the defence of our borders. But if it has failed us, then we need to revisit our border security policy afresh. This nation cannot afford to lose so expensive a machine that easy.
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