NEW DELHI: The government has no proposal to ground the Mirage 2000 fighters that played a key role in evicting Pakistan-backed intruders in the 1999 Kargil border conflict, the Lok Sabha was informed Thursday (Dec 2).

In a written reply, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: "As of now there is no proposal to ground the Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft. These are amongst the most modern fighter aircraft in the Indian Ai Force (IAF) inventory."

The Mirage had come under a cloud following a series of crashes involving the French-made jet, which has one the best flight safety records among the jets operated by the IAF.

Pointing to the aircraft's role in the Kargil conflict, Mukherjee said there was no doubt regarding the reliability of the Mirage as an "operational platform".

"The past flight safety record of the aircraft since its induction has been excellent," he said.

Mukherjee said there had been a total of 54 fighter crashes between 2001 and Nov 9 this year, resulting in losses of about Rs.15 billion ($340 million) to the exchequer.

The IAF lost 22 pilots in the accidents that killed 39 civilians, he said.

Courtesy Indo-Asian News Service