On Monday, with the formal retirement of the last remaining MiG-21 fighter jets just a month away, Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Marshal AP Singh took a sortie in the legendary aircraft from the Nal air base in Bikaner, Rajasthan. He was accompanied by Squadron Leader Priya Sharma.
The final two squadrons of the MiG-21 are scheduled to be officially retired on September 26, marking the end of a six-decade legacy. The farewell ceremony will be held at the Chandigarh air base, which is where the MiG-21s first arrived in April 1963.
They became part of the IAF Squadron known as ‘The First Supersonics.’ The initial aircraft were received in a disassembled state at Mumbai and were later put together by a team of Soviet engineers. They were then test-flown by Soviet pilots before being handed over to the IAF. Over its service life, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has license-produced 657 of these jets. Throughout the years, their avionics, missiles, and radar systems were regularly upgraded with newer versions.
Over its 62 years of service, the MiG-21, across all its variants flown by the IAF, has been a part of numerous military operations. These include the 1971 Bangladesh war, the 1999 Kargil conflict, and the more recent air duel that took place after the Balakote airstrike, in which Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman was flying a MiG-21. However, the aircraft also has a troubled history, with approximately 490 MiG-21s involved in accidents or crashes, which resulted in the deaths of over 170 pilots.
The original MiG-21, developed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the former Soviet Union, had its maiden flight in 1955. It was initially designed as a "point-defense fighter" for air-to-air combat within the visual range of the pilot, using short-range air-to-air missiles. The IAF had aimed to have a replacement for the MiG-21 ready by 1994, but the last variant, the MiG-21 Bis, was produced in 1985.
With the phase-out of the last two MiG-21 squadrons, the number of fighter jet squadrons in the IAF will fall to 29, which is the lowest it has been in six decades. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has determined that the IAF requires 42 squadrons to be prepared for a two-front collusive war with Pakistan. Each squadron typically consists of 16 to 18 jets.
The induction of the indigenous Tejas Mark-1A fighter jet, which was intended to bolster these numbers, has faced delays. Deliveries of the jet were initially scheduled to begin in March 2024, with at least 16 planes to be delivered to the IAF each year. However, the manufacturer, HAL, has not yet delivered a single Tejas Mark-1A.
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