A twin-seater Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed today near Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh while it was on a routine training sortie.
Both pilots are safe, officials said.
A court of inquiry has been ordered to find out the cause of the crash.
"A Mirage 2000 aircraft of the IAF crashed near Shivpuri (Gwalior), during a routine training sortie today, after encountering a system malfunction. Both the pilots ejected safely. An inquiry has been ordered by the IAF, to ascertain the cause of the accident," the IAF said in a post on X.
The multirole fighter jet Mirage 2000, built by France's Dassault Aviation, flew for the first time in 1978.
The French Air Force inducted it in 1984; 600 Mirage 2000 were produced, of which 50 per cent were exported to eight countries including India, Dassault says on its website.
There is also a single-seater version of the Mirage 2000.
In the IAF, the Mirage 2000 saw action in the Kargil war with a high success rate. It dropped laser-guided bombs on hilltops occupied by terrorists and Pakistani forces with great accuracy.
The IAF also used the reliable jet to bomb a terrorist camp deep inside Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019.
