Azerbaijan, Baku, 31 January / corr. Trend E. Huseynli/ "The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan should discontinue the use of defense technology produced in the USSR period," Alakbar Mammadov, an independent expert and the head of the Center of Democratic and Civil Control over the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan said to Trend.
The MIG-29 fighter jet of the Air Forces of Azerbaijan crashed during training on 29 January. Both pilots on board the fighter jet, Fakhraddin Asgarov and Afgan Aslanov died. The MIG-29 type fighter jets had also crashed during training in Russia, Malaysia, Peru, Slovakia as well as Armenia.
The MIG-29 fighter jet had most likely crashed in Azerbaijan due to a technical malfunction. It is unlikely that the tragedy took place due to the pilot's lack of skills, Mammadov said. "The crashes of MIG-29 fighter jets in several counties have demonstrated that they have flaws in its production," the military expert said. According to the expert, apparently the pilot's catapult did not function, resulting in the pilots being unable to escape, leading to their death.
The MiG-29 "Fulcrum" ("Tochka Opori" in Russian) was designed and built to be a single-seat supersonic, all-weather, air superiority fighter representing, with the MiG-31 "Foxhound", the latest and perhaps last fighter production items from the Mikoyan Design Bureau. The primary role of the MiG-29 is to destroy air targets at distances from 60 to 200 kilometers (30 to 110 NM) at all altitudes, on all profiles, in any weather, and under all ECM conditions. In addition, the basic MiG-29 is capable of limited air-to-ground operations and in advanced versions, has been optimized to attack both stationary and moving targets with precision guided munitions.
The Air Forces of Azerbaijan use the MIG-29 to defend the air space of Azerbaijan.
It would not be appropriate to presume the cause of the crash the case have been officially investigated, Eldar Sabiroglu, the press secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan said.