NEW DELHI: A senior Indian Air Force (IAF) officer and another pilot ejected safely as an Indian Air Force (IAF) Mirage-2000 combat jet crashed in central India, an officer said here.
Engine failure is suspected to be the cause of the crash, the officer added.
The Mirage-2000 with the two officers had taken off from Gwalior air base in Madhya Pradesh on a routine flying-training sortie. It crashed 32 km northeast of Gwalior in the ravines of Bhind district around 12.10 p.m., he said.
"The pilots -- Air Marshal Anil Chopra and Wing Commander Ram Kumar -- who got airborne from Gwalior airbase for a routine flying-training sortie, ejected safely. There is no reported damage to civil property or life."
India had only last year signed a $2.4-billion deal with French manufacturer Dassault Aviation for the upgrade of the 51 Mirage-2000s in the IAF fleet. The first set of aircraft are already in France for the project.
A court of inquiry was ordered by the IAF into the accident.