As IAF Pleads For Speed, Another Young Pilot Killed In MiG-21 Crash

Squadron Leader S. Raghuvanshi, in his early thirties, perished today in a MiG-21 crash about 10-km from Avantipora in India's northernmost state Jammu & Kashmir. Raghuvanshi, a qualified and experienced MiG-21 pilot was on a routine training sortie from Srinagar when his fighter, an upgraded MiG-21 Bison, went down shortly before 11am. Raghuvanshi, whose family lives near Meerut in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is survived by his wife. On everyone's behalf, I'd like express deepest condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.

India's new defence minister Arun Jaitley expressed sorrow as he took office this morning, pledging to work hard to speed up stalled decisions and prioritise modernisation of the three services. The IAF chief, who met the new defence minister along with the other two chiefs, will be presenting a set of acquisition priorities to the minister next month, headlining the M-MRCA jet deal.

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