India's premier aircraft manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has supplied substandard and uncertified spares to Indian Air Force (IAF) resulting in a spate of MIG-21 crashes, a leading daily reported on Sunday quoting unnamed Russian military experts. 'Izvestia' said quoting the experts that the certified quality spares imported from Russia are being re-exported by HAL to Algeria and Vietnam while IAF is being supplied with cheap and uncertified spares picked from former Warsaw Pact countries in eastern Europe and CIS countries.

'Izvestia' believes that the so-called Mig-21 scandal has been fanned in India by vested interests to pave the ground for the purchase of 'Hawk' jet trainer and keep Russian MIG-at and Yak-130 advanced trainers out of fray. In this backdrop, to protect the prestige of its brand 'Russian Aircraft Corporation Mig' (RAC MIG) is seeking access to the investigations into the crashes of mig-21 trainer jets, insiders told reporters.

RAC MIG is likely to ask IAF to give the serial numbers of the MIG-21 trainer jets involved in the accidents since they suspect that these planes were never supplied to India by Russia and HAL had no license for their indigenous production.
Bureau Report