Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Russia Grounds All MiG-31 Jets After Two Pilots Killed In Plane Crash

9/6/2011 4:33 AM ET

(RTTNews) - Russia has grounded all MiG-31 aircraft after two air force pilots were killed in a pre-dawn crash of one of the country's mainline fighter jets on Tuesday.

Russian Defense Ministry said the air force command has ordered a ban on the flight of MiG-31 until the cause of the accident had been determined.

An inquiry was ordered after the fighter jet crashed in a ravine in the Urals in the early hours of Tuesday while on a routine training flight. Both the pilots were killed as the jet exploded in a fireball minutes after taking off from a military airport in the central Siberian Perm region, Russian media reported.

The MiG-31 is Russia's mainline interceptor fighter. A plane designed to climb quickly and travel at high speeds, its primary mission is protecting the country's airspace from encroaching aircraft.

Russia operates between 280 and 380 MiG-31s, according to defense industry estimates.

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