Harare- Two Zimbabwe air force pilots on a training flight were killed Friday after the Chinese-made jet they were flying crashed, state media reported Saturday.

The K8 jet trainer crashed at Thornhill air base in the central city of Gweru, the air force's main military base in the country, air force director-general of operations Air Commodore Shebba Shumbayawonda told the state-controlled Herald newspaper.

The two were training for ceremonial flypasts, he said, but gave no indication of how the crash occurred and did not name the victims. An investigation had been launched.

It is the first crash involving one of the air force's squadron of K8 jet trainers since they were acquired in 2005.

Zimbabwe's air force was one of the most respected in Africa, with pilots with combat experience from the civil war in Democratic Republic of Congo in the late 1990s.

However, military analysts say its effectiveness has slumped in the last five years as a result of a Western arms embargo on President Robert Mugabe's regime, and the departure of skilled pilots and technicians escaping the country's economic collapse. (dpa)