NEW DELHI: The IAF continues to be dogged by a high crash rate, with the force losing as many as 24 aircraft, five helicopters and nine pilots in accidents just since 2014-2015.Overall, the armed forces have recorded crashes of 65 aircraft and helicopters, which have killed over 80 people, since 2011. There are over 30 fighters, including at least five twin-engine Sukhoi-30MKIs, the country’s latest and the most potent jets, among these crash figures.Officials say the two major reasons identified for the different crashes are “technical defects” and “human error”. In other words, ageing aircraft and poor maintenance, coupled with inadequate pilot training, contribute to the high crash rate.The defence ministry, on its part, says various preventive measures are being taken to avoid accidents. “These include invigoration of the Aviation Safety Organization , streamlining of the accident reporting procedure, analytical studies and quality audits of the aircraft fleets to identify vulnerable areas to avoid accidents,” said minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.“Accident prevention programmes have been given an added thrust to identify risk prone or hazardous areas specific to the aircraft fleets and operational environment to ensure safe practices and procedures,” he added. Training of pilots in the IAF is also regularly reviewed to stay abreast of the latest teaching techniques utilizing state-of-art training aids.But the lack of a concerted modernization drive remains a major problem. The armed forces, for instance, desperately require 484 light helicopters to replace their obsolete single-engine Cheetah/Chetak fleets, which have been dogged by a high crash rate and serviceability problems.But the long-pending joint production of 200 Kamov-226T light-utility helicopters for around $1 billion (over Rs 6,500 crore) between India and Russia is yet to kick off. This much-delayed project for the light utility helicopters is considered crucial because India’s endeavour to buy 197 such choppers from abroad has been scrapped three times over the last decade due to corruption allegations and technical deviations.