A MiG-21 Bison fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed on Friday near here during a routine mission after reportedly suffering a bird hit but the pilot ejected safely, officials said.

An IAF spokesperson said the MiG crashed after getting airborne from Nal, near Bikaner. He said initial inputs indicated that the jet crashed after it reportedly hit a bird.

A Commission of Inquiry will investigate the cause of the accident.

A few minutes after taking off, the aircraft lost contact with the Air Traffic Control. Its debris fell in Shobhasar village near Bikaner.

The "Bison" is an upgraded version of the MiG-21 jet, which was first inducted into the IAF in the 1960s, soon after the India-China war. The upgrade to the Bison version was done in 2006.

The upgraded version was equipped with the Phazotron Kopyo airborne radar which is capable of simultaneously tracking eight targets and engaging two of them with air-to-air missiles.

Initially, the MiG-21 could carry only free-fall bombs (those without guiding system). It is now capable of carrying a wide range of guided munition, including the R-73 air-to-air missile that hunted down a Pakistani F-16 aircraft during a dogfight on February 27.

--IANS

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