No plan to phase out AN-32 aircraft: Rajnath

The fleet is being upgraded in phases, he tells Parliament

Rajnath Singh says the aircraft have a useful residual life.

The AN-32 aircraft is the workhorse of the IAF transport fleet and has not met with frequent accidents, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said.

“A part of the AN-32 fleet has been upgraded with better avionics and airframe reinforcement. The remaining aircraft are planned to be upgraded in a phased manner. There is no plan to phase out AN-32 aircraft presently as they have useful residual life,” Mr. Singh said in a written reply in Parliament on Wednesday.

‘Only two accidents’

In the past four years, apart from the crash early this month, only one AN-32 was lost, on July 22, 2016 while flying over the Bay of Bengal, he said.

The clarification comes as questions continue to be raised if the IAF will stop flying them in mountainous areas following the recent crash.

On June 3, an IAF AN-32 crashed after it got airborne from Jorhat in Assam for the Mechuka advanced landing ground in Arunachal Pradesh. The wreckage was located after nine days and all 13 people on board were killed.

Earlier this week, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, said in Gwalior that AN-32 aircraft would continue to be flown in the mountains till a new aircraft was inducted. “We don’t have a choice,” he said. The new aircraft, once inducted, would be used in the mountains and AN-32s would be used for training and other purposes.

In 2009, India and Ukraine concluded a five-year contract for $397.7 million to repair and upgrade 105 AN-32 aircraft — 45 to be upgraded in Ukraine and 60 in India. The project was delayed following the conflict between Russia and Ukraine over Crimea and has now been resolved.