"The Sea Harriers have been grounded following the crash that left afighter pilot dead," the Times of India newspaper quoted Navy officialsas saying.
The 10 Sea Harrier jump jets will remain on an airfield in the Goa province until the probe into the crash is completed, the officials said.
The decision to ground the Sea Harriers leaves India's only aircraft carrier, the Viraat, practically without air power.
The 50-year-old Viraat recently left dry dock at the Cochin Shipyard following an 18-month comprehensive refit, and is expected to become fully operational in two months.
The Indian Navy has been forced to extend the service life of theageing Viraat for another five years due to prolonged delays in theconstruction of its first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) andRussia's failure to deliver the refitted Admiral Gorshkov on schedulein 2008.
According to the paper, the 40,000-ton IAC, which is being built atthe Cochin Shipyard, "will be ready only by 2015 at the earliest,"while the 44,570-ton Admiral Gorshkov, which is undergoing an overhaulat the Sevmash Shipyard in North Russia, may be delivered to India by2013.
However, New Delhi and Moscow are still in a deadlock over the finalprice of the original $1.5 billion 2004 contract, which includesdelivery of 16 MiG-29K Fulcrum carrier-based fighters. Russia hasclaimed it underestimated the scale and the cost of the AdmiralGorshkov's modernization, and has asked for an additional $1.2 billion, which New Delhi said was "exorbitant."
