Air force chief S. Krishnaswamy told reporters in the southern city of Bangalore that the single-seater Russian-built jets which were being trashed were the oldest variant of its mainstay MiG fleet.

"So there are no more aeroplanes, we are desperate. We need the trainer jets more importantly than a combat aircraft," he said of the previous administration's decision to buy 66 Hawk jet trainers from Britain worth 1.45 billion dollars.

More than 100 Indian airforce pilots have died in the past decade in crashes of MiG-21s, which have been nicknamed "flying coffins" because of their terrible safety record.

In the latest crash in February four people were killed and 15 others were injured when a MiG-21 ploughed into a village and set ablaze several houses in the western state of Gujarat.

A MiG-27 went off radar last week in eastern India, prompting calls by pilots to install aircraft-locating safety devices on the remaining units.

Krishnaswamy said the state-owned aircraft maker, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, was in the process of upgrading India's MiG-27 interceptor jets with new electronics systems.

"We have given approximately 40 MiG-27 aircraft for upgrades and about 50 to 60 (British-designed) Jaguar aircraft and another 50 to 60 aircraft would follow," he said.

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