Thirty-two MiG series aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed in the last five years killing eight pilots, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said.

"32 MiG aircraft have met with accidents during the last five years and a total of eight pilots have lost their lives in these accidents," he said while replying to a query in Rajya Sabha.

In reply to another query, he said the Defence Ministry had received a letter from Uttarakhand Government regarding purchase and sale of land by the Army and the matter was sub-judice.

To another query, Antony said that India's policy has been to build up defence preparedness and not advocating an arms race.

He added that till March 2009, the armed forces had spent 99.61 per cent of the funds allocated to them in the last fiscal.

Replying to a query on anti-landmine vehicles, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said the Ordinance Factory Board has manufactured 243 such vehicles in the last five years.

He said 141 of these vehicles have been given to the naxal affected states including Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.