The MiG-21, Indian Air Force’s (IAF) iconic fighter jet, took its final flight on Sep 26. And quite poetically - it ended right where it all began - at the very same airbase in Chandigarh where it was first inducted.
The tireless warhorse has been the vanguard of India’s military might for over six decades after joining the IAF in 1963. Fun fact - the MiG-21s entered the IAF before Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh was born!
The needle-nosed warrior has been instrumental in India’s major wars. From the 1965 and 71 wars with Pakistan to Kargil in 1999 to the 2019 Balakot strikes, where it notably shot down an F-16. And lest we forget, the MiG-21 also played a crucial role in Operation Sindoor in May, earlier this year.
Fun fact #2 - for the uninitiated - MiG is short for Mikoyan Gurevich, the last name of the Russians who designed the warplane.
The MiG-21 was the IAF’s first supersonic high-altitude interceptor fighter jet, one that seriously upgraded a then young nation’s nascent military. Starting with a batch of just 13 jets, over the years the IAF has inducted over a thousand MiG-21s and its variants. Its legacy is such that virtually every fighter pilot in the IAF will have flown at least one of them.
But the timing of its retirement cannot be questioned either. Over the last few years, the MiG earned the unofficial moniker of ‘the flying coffin’.
This after several MiG crashes led to the deaths of many pilots as well as civilians on the ground. According to government data, a total of 171 pilots, and dozens of civilians, service personnel and aircrew lost their lives, with the causes of the 482 accidents being both human error and technical defects. But mind you, this is data from FY1971-72 to April of FY2012-13. Why? Because that’s the last time the government released such data.
But senior pilots argue that given the sheer number of flying hours seen by the MiGs, the record isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be.
Nevertheless, the IAF legend’s farewell saw India’s Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh in attendance, along with top military leaders, veterans, and families. The ceremony featured a spectacular flypast by the last of the MiG-21s with the last sortie led by the Air Chief himself, flying alongside Squadron Leader Priya Sharma.
By presenting the Defence Minister with the MiG-21’s Form 700 logbook, the Air Chief signalled the end of an era. One that leaves the IAF with a fighter squadron strength of 29. That’s less than 70% of the Air Force’s sanctioned fighter squadron strength of 42. One last fun fact - this number has never been met.
But the good news is that the shortfall will be gradually filled with the induction of the indigenously-built Tejas and the French-built Rafales.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Sep 25 signed a ₹62,000+ crore contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the procurement of 97 of the Light Combat Aircrafts (LCA). This is in addition to an initial order of 83 jets, the ₹48,000 crore contract for which was signed in February 2021.
Furthermore, India’s Navy is set to get an upgrade with 26 French-made Rafale jets. The deal, which could be worth a whopping ₹63,000 crore, is a major boost for the Indian military and will be a government-to-government agreement with France.
