 "The undated photograph shows a Jaguar aircraft of the Indian Air Force taking off at an undisclosed location. (Photo: Indian Air Force)")
The Indian Air Force (IAF) said that a Jaguar fighter plane crashed in Rajasthan’s Churu district earlier in the day.
In a statement on X, the IAF said that both the pilots were killed in the accident.
This was the third crash this year involving IAF’s Jaguar. Earlier this year on April 2, a Jaguar crashed in Gujarat in which one of the two pilots was killed. On March 7, another Jaguar had crashed in Haryana but the pilot had ejected safely in that accident.
The IAF has a severe shortage of fighter planes and is dealing with an ageing fleet. It is among the last few air forces the world over that still operate old aircraft like MiG-21 and Jaguar as India has failed to add newer aircraft to its fleet.
Earlier this year, it emerged that the IAF has just 31 squadrons against the required strength of 42, which is an all-time low. The effective strength is even lower at 29 squadrons as two squadrons of MiG-21 aircraft are barely operational because of safety concerns.