The Hindu : National : IAF to retire the last of its secret planes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 07, 2006

National

National

IAF to retire the last of its secret planes

Sandeep Dikshit

It is looking for suitable resting places for the four MiG-25s

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to retire the last of its secret planes next month. The IAF is now looking for a suitable resting place for the four MiG-25 planes, one of the two planes in the world that could fly at stratospheric levels to take photographs of quality.

So possessive was the IAF about these planes that the first indication of what they looked like in Indian colours came from a postal stamp, over a decade after their acquisition.

Earmarked for museum

While one of the MiG-25 "High Altitude Strategic Reconnaissance" planes has been earmarked for the IAF museum at Palam, another will be permanently parked at the Air Force Academy, Dindigul. As the MiG-25, at 30 tonnes, is a heavy aircraft, the remaining two planes will have to be accommodated near the airport since it is nearly impossible to dismantle them for transportation and assemble them again

The planes are known to have flown over China, Pakistan and other countries to take stock of their military preparations but returned undetected after conducting sorties at an altitude of 25 km. However, one flight over Pakistan in 1997 led to tensions with Islamabad claiming that the MiG-25 deliberately gave out its signature to underline the absence of a plane of similar capability with it.

Called "Foxbat" in NATO parlance, they flew extensively over Western Bloc countries during the Cold War.

Making an appearance in India in 1981, the lot of eight planes, equipped with powerful cameras and sensors, were with the 106 (Trisonics) squadron in Bareilly.

Reconnaissance platforms

A former Trisonics squadron commander A. Mukherjee said: "We now have better reconnaissance platforms as well as access to satellite imagery to enhance both battlefield transparency and situational awareness." Apart from satellite imagery, the IAF now has unmanned aerial vehicles and aerostat radars.

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