(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The Jaguar aircraft is a 'safe platform' and the two recent accidents in Oman and India involving the fighters are not a reflection of their reliability, according to the visiting Indian Air Vice Marshal C Hari Kumar.
Addressing a press conference at the Indian Embassy on Monday, the senior Indian Air Force (IAF) official added that with Oman and India currently being the only two countries operating Jaguars, their air forces are now close to signing a pact on flight safety.
''The last accident involving a Jaguar in Sikkim (India) and the recent mid-air collision in Oman have nothing to do with the safety of the platform,'' said Air Vice Marshal Kumar.
''The RAFO will stop operating Jaguars shortly. We aim to fly Jaguars for some time, and are looking at all procedures and practices that we can use to see how best we employ this potent platform for some more time,'' he added.
''As far as safety is concerned, these accidents are not an indication of either the aeroplane or systems in place. Military aviation in itself is risky, and we do put in practices to ensure that we do not have such accidents,'' he said.
Air Vice Marshal Kumar added that to better understand each other's issues, the two air forces will soon sign an agreement on flight safety. ''We are planning to have a bilateral agreement with RAFO on flight safety to look at exchanging inputs on flight safety issues – involving the kind of incidents and modifications required. We should be able sign it shortly,'' he said.
Commenting on India-Oman relations, Air Vice Marshal Kumar said that the Arabian Sea actually joins the two countries rather than being a wedge. ''We both have very strong cultural and historical relationship and this bilateral exercise with RAFO, which is the third in the series,
is something we are proud of as Oman is the only GCC country with which we have this kind of exercise,'' he said.
A strong IAF contingent of 150 personnel is currently taking part in Al Jisr al Sharqi (Eastern Bridge), a joint exercise with RAFO that began on October 6 at the Masirah military base.
Representing IAF are six Jaguar strike aircraft from No 6 Squadron, supported by IL-76 transport aircraft and an IL 78 airborne refueller. From RAFO, Jaguars, Hawks and F-16 aircraft are part of the ex
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