Indian Air Force Will Continue With AN-32: Birendra Singh Dhanoa
Mumbai: Air Chief Marshal Birendra Singh Dhanoa said on Monday that the Indian Air Force (IAF) Transport Aircraft will continue to use AN-32 aircraft as there is no replacement at the moment.
Addressing a press conference in Gwalior, Dhanoa said, “AN-32 aircraft will continue to fly in mountainous areas, we do not have any replacement.”
However, he said that the Indian Air Force has accelerated the process of acquiring new equipment including the advanced line of aircraft, after which they will not be used in an important role. This will just become a regular plane that will be used for training.
The statement of Dhanoa came on the eve of this month after an AN-32 aircraft crashed at a remote location in Arunachal Pradesh with 13 personnel. The bodies were recovered 17 days after the aircraft disappeared from the radar.
The actual cause of the accident can remain a mystery as a black box, which stores important flight data in the crash. However, many have questioned the use of old Russian-made turboprop twin-engine military transport aircraft.
Meanwhile, he also spoke about Balakot airstrikes saying, “Let me tell you at Balakot that Pakistan did not come to our airspace, our aim was to attack terrorist camps and their’s was to target our army bases. We achieved our military objective.”
“On 27th February (2019) we stopped the Srinagar airspace for 2-3 hours, yet we did not allow tension for our civil aviation with Pakistan because our economy is much stronger compared to them, he added.
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