Tu-142M aircraft to be converted into a museum in Vishakapatnam

A decommissioned Indian Navy anti-submarine aircraft Tu-142M will be turned into a museum, the Deccan Herald reported on April 9.

The Indian Navy has been using 8 Tu-142M anti-submarine aircraft since 1988. Now the planes will be replaced by American P-8I Poseidon aircraft.

At the end of March 2017 a farewell ceremony for the Tu-142M was held at the Rajali military base in Tamil Nadu, the paper said.

The government of Andhra Pradesh approached the Indian Ministry of Defence with a request to transfer one of the aircraft to convert it into a museum in the city of Visakhapatnam, according to the paper.

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The Soviet Tu-142M was built for detection and destruction of enemy submarines and to explore the ocean.

The Indian Navy used the planes in Operation Cactus in the Maldives in 1988, Vijay in Kargil (1999) and Parakram (2002). Since 2011, the Tu-142M has been used in anti-piracy actions.

As noted by the India’s Ministry of Defence, not a single incident was recorded for almost 30 years of the use of the aircraft.

A squadron of Tu-142M aircraft was considered one of the best in the Indian Navy.

The museum is expected to open to the public in June.

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