Chennai: With no leads leading to the missing AN 32 aircraft even after a week it disappeared over the Bay of Bengal, India has sought the assistance of the United States for detection of images and whether any of its satellites had picked up any signal from the plane.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the possibility of sabotage in the mysterious disappearance of AN-32 aircraft of IAF was “very less”.
“It is total blank. There was not even a single signal recorded. That is the reason we are contacting American defence forces to ascertain whether their satellites picked up any signal. Besides our own satellite imagery, we have asked the US for their imagery for the detection of emergency frequency to space based assets. Foreign countries we have already asked. I only hope that our efforts succeed,” he said, responding to queries from members.
“I don't know exact age but it is well within lifetime. It has undergone first overhauling. Lot of replacement has been done.... They are considered as one of the safest aircraft,” he said, replying to several questions.
About the missing aircraft, Parrikar said that after the first overhaul, the plane had already done 279 hours and the pilot was experienced, having put in 500 hours on this route.
Sharing details of the search operation so far, he said 10 Indian Navy ships as well as submarine ‘Sindhudhwaj’ are carrying searches and “virtually checking up everything”.
