IAF officials said he personally wanted to ensure that the Sukhois were safe, adding that the Air Chief performed several manoeuvres during his flight.

Addressing the men and officers at the station, the IAF Chief said, “I wanted to be here to not only fly the SU-30 MKI, but also to meet all of you and assure you that our SU-30 fleet is in good and capable hands.”

After his sortie, Browne announced that the momentum of building up the new SU-30 squadrons needed to be maintained. There have been three crashes of the twin-engined Sukhois in the past three years. The latest one happened last week near Pune forcing the fleet to be grounded. It had sent alarm bells ringing in strategic circles as the plane is the latest acquisition from Russia that is produced in India under licence.

It is India’s most potent air-strike asset and is being modified to deliver the supersonic missile BrahMos. Its speed and long-range capability is unmatched by other air forces of the region like those of China and Pakistan.

Air Chief Marshal Browne made an hour-long sortie at the Pune airbase today. He was accompanied by Wing Commander Anurag Sharma, Commanding Officer of the SU-30 MKI squadron based in Pune. The Sukhoi is a twin-pilot configuration plane.

Notably, Browne’s son, Omar, is also a Sukhoi pilot. The chief’s sortie today is being seen as a step to state that the Sukhois will fly and more will be added.

The warplanes are based in Bareilly in Western UP, the North-East and are slated to be based in Punjab next year.

The report of the Court of Inquiry (CoI), which was ordered after the December 13 crash, is yet to come. Russian experts have also been called in to assist in the probe. The two earlier crashes in 2009 were caused by the failure of the fly-by-wire control system.