The Hindu : Our Sukhois can match F-16s, says Fernandes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 23, 2003

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Our Sukhois can match F-16s, says Fernandes

The Defence Minister, George Fernandes, showing the thumbs-up sign before he took off in a Sukhoi fighter aircraft in Pune on Sunday. — Reuters

Pune June 22. India had no reason to worry irrespective of whether the United States went ahead with its plan to sell `offensive' aircraft such as F-16 to Pakistan as it had Sukhois to match, the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, said here today.

"First, the U.S. has described as false the report that it is intending to sell F-16s to Pakistan," Mr. Fernandes said. "Second, even if we assume that they are going to sell it, we need not have any reason to worry about it as we have our own aircraft to match," he said.

Most of Pakistan's armoury was either U.S.-made or made in China, hence there was no reason to worry as it was a business deal between two countries, he added.

To a question on the growing number of accidents of MiG aircraft, the Minister said, "on the contrary the rate of accidents has come down". "From the time the MiGs were inducted into the IAF, there has been accidents, but it is only now that they are being more noticed by the media."

He was particularly critical of the media dubbing the MiG aircraft `flying coffins' and said it was a great injustice to the pilots of the aircraft.

`The MiG is a high-performance machine and to prove that there is nothing wrong with the aircraft, the then Air Chief Marshal, A.Y. Tipnis, flew the single-seater aircraft hopping from one airbase to another when he had taken over as the Air Chief," Mr. Fernandes said.

On his 40-minute flying sortie on board the IAF SU-30 MKI at the Pune airbase. "I am wiser after the flight today. So much needs to be known. I am leaving with the conviction that our fighter pilots' work is to be made easier than it is. A physical situation can knock out the pilot, it is not enough to say that he went in the defence of the country," he said.

On the ways to prevent MiG accidents, he said "people need to be educated about the dangers to aircraft from bird-hits and must be made aware of the importance of keeping the surroundings (of the airports/air bases) clean to prevent birds from nesting in these places".

U.S. reply awaited on troops for Iraq

On the issue of sending troops to Iraq, Mr. Fernandes said India was awaiting replies to certain queries from the U.S. before taking any decision. The NDA partners had discussed the issue on Saturday at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. — PTI, UNI

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