By Santanu Choudhury
NEW DELHI--An Indian air force C-130J Super Hercules transport
plane crashed Friday, killing all five crew members in the latest
of a string of military accidents which has killed more than 20
people and has some wondering whether the south Asian nation is
having trouble managing all its new military equipment.
The plane crashed in the central state of Madhya Pradesh during
a training mission. It was the first fatal accident in India
involving the Lockheed Martin Corp. C-130J, said an air force
spokesman. India started using the planes just three years ago.
The latest air force accident comes on the tail of a series of
fatal accidents in the Indian navy over the last eight months.
"The navy is caught in a downward spiral at the moment where any
mishap is going to be linked to the recent problems," said James
Hardy, Asia-Pacific editor for IHS Jane's Defence Weekly. "If the
air force started losing more new kit, then yes, we'd be asking
questions about maintenance and training."
India recently got to use the new planes to help its neighbors
by deploying two of its six C-130J planes in the search for the
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The planes are equipped with infrared
detection sensors which help in long-range navigation and
surveillance.
The air force spokesman said he didn't know if the one that
crashed Friday was one of those used in the search for the Malaysia
Airlines jet.
India's armed forces have been hit by a number of accidents of
late.
Earlier this month, an engineer was killed in an accident at a
construction site building a submarine for the navy. Last month, a
naval commander died from a gas leak in an under-construction
destroyer in a shipyard in Mumbai. On Feb. 26, the country's naval
chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi, resigned to take responsibility for the
accidents, including a fire on a submarine earlier that day that
left two crew members dead.
The most damaging accident for the navy happened last August
when 18 sailors died after explosions and a fire swept through a
submarine in a Mumbai dockyard.
India has been spending billions to upgrade its Soviet-era
weaponry by adding new guns, tanks, ships and aircraft to face a
more belligerent China, and its longtime rival, Pakistan.
While India has become the world's biggest arms importer in
recent years, military experts said the recent accidents aren't
necessarily caused by its spending spree.
"We know India is adding new equipment, but I don't think there
is an overstretch of resources," said Kapil Kak, a retired air vice
marshal of the Indian air force. "We will need to wait for the
outcome of the inquiry to know whether there was any human error or
whether there was other issues with the (new C-130J) plane."
If anything, India should see fewer accidents as it spends more
on military equipment. It is often the older military equipment
that India that is trying to replace which causes trouble.
The air force has been phasing out the Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter
jet which had been its combat backbone for decades. India had so
many fatal accidents with the jet that the MiG-21 was nicknamed the
flying coffin. In 2012, India announced that more than 200 people
had lost their lives in accidents with the MiG series of aircrafts
since 1971.
The air force had been hoping that the body count would go down
with the many new planes it has been purchasing-including Russia's
Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, Boeing Co.'s P-8I long-range maritime
patrol and anti-submarine warfare jets and the C-130J which crashed
Friday.
"It is an extremely tragic accident and a huge loss to the air
force as it was a state-of-the-art machine that was configured to
meet the strategic requirements of India's special forces," said
Mr. Kak, the retired air vice marshal. "I am stunned by this
accident."
Write to Santanu Choudhury at santanu.choudhury@wsj.com
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