New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that the 52 AN-32 aircraft have been upgraded and others are in a position to fly.
His remark came over the incident of AN-32 plane of Indian Air Force that had crashed in Arunachal Pradesh killing all 13 personnel on board.
In reply to supplementaries during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Rajnath Singh informed, "As far as planes are concerned, particularly AN-32 planes, so far 52 have been upgraded, but we cannot say that those planes which have not been upgraded yet are not airworthy. It would not be fair to assume so," he said.
Meanwhile, talking about the Arunachal Pradesh Incident, he said that AN-32 plane that crashed in Arunachal Pradesh killing all 13 personnel on board was completely airworthy.
“The average accident rate has reduced from 1.04 per 10,000 flying hours in 1999 to 0.52 in 2004. This has further reduced to 0.46 in the next five years and currently the accident rate is 0.33 per 10,000 flying hours,” he added.
He told the House that the upgradation of aircraft is a regular process and told a member that the MIG-29s would also come under it.
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