Vijayawada: Defence Minister George Fernandes on November 15 ruled out the phasing out of trainer MiG fighters in the wake of crashes involving the aircraft, but said the government will upgrade the technology soon so that such things will not recur.

Asked what measurers the government was contemplating about MiG fighters, when about 16 fighters were involved in crashes this year, 11 of them being MiG aircraft, Fernandes said, "We will upgrade the technology soon. However, the trainer MiG fighters will not be phased out as they will only strengthen the Indian Air Force (IAF)."

Fernandes reiterated that an expert team including Russian technologists, did not find any fault in the MiG fighter planes being used by the IAF.

The Defence Minister said he had already discussed the matter with the chief of the IAF and the maintenance engineers including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited officials, and they all expressed that there was nothing wrong with the fighter jet MiG.

Replying to a query about the MiG trainer aircraft crash on near Baghdoghra airbase, in which two pilots were killed, he said the expert team had visited all maintenance airforce bases "but they could not find any fault with the MiG trainer fighters".

PTI