Defense News, an international online magazine with news and reviews of products and defense programs, earlier said, quoting an Indian Air Force official, that the last five out of their 40 AN-32s undergoing upgrades at the Kiev-based Antonov State Company had become “untraceable.”
The Indian Defense Ministry later denied the planes’ loss saying they still remained at the Antonov plant.
The Antonov Company, for its part, denied media reports of its alleged involvement in the planes’ disappearance.
“In 2009, the Indian Air Force signed a contract with Ukrspetsexport Corporation (Ukraine’s state-owned arms trading company) to upgrade its 105 AN-32 transport aircraft. Thirty-five planes have already been upgraded and handed back to the Indian side. Another five are currently at the State Aviation Plant 410, meaning that we neither took their delivery nor sent them anywhere,” the Company said in a statement Wednesday.
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