The pilot was safe, he said.

The Russian-made aircraft was returning from a sortie when a technical problem was noticed in its undercarriage near Punjab's Ludhiana district.

"It was a planned ejection in a designated safe area. It cannot be termed as a crash," the spokesman said.

The Indian Air Force, the world's fourth largest, has been plagued by mishaps mostly involving its ageing fleet of Russian-made MiGs.

Official figures show at least 221 MiGs, worth tens of millions of dollars, were lost in crashes between 1991 and 2000, killing about 100 pilots.

WAR.WIRE