The MiG-21 fleet — the mainstay of India’s air defence for more than six decades — flew into the sunset after making its final appearance in the skies on Friday, marking the end of a historic but chequered chapter in the country’s military aviation.
The Indian Air Force bade farewell to the iconic Russian-origin fighter jets, India’s first supersonic fighter and interceptor aircraft, during a decommissioning ceremony at the Chandigarh Air Force Station, where the aircraft was first inducted in 1963.
Mikoyan Gureyevich of the erstwhile Soviet Union designed the MiG-21, which was revolutionary because he packed so much combat power into the single-engine aircraft with a small wingspan. The fighter jets gave India a decisive edge in the skies in the 1965 and 1971 wars, the 1999 Kargil War, the 2019 Balakot strikes and the recent Operation Sindoor.
The MiG-21 was inducted into the IAF in the early 1960s, and since then more than 800 variants of the supersonic fighter jet have been inducted into service and have remained the frontline fighter jet of the force.
An estimated 1,000 MiG-21s were flown in 33 countries, and the IAF had the largest number of them all, making up to two-thirds of its fighter fleet.
“The sky remembers the roar of a legend. A sentinel of the skies…. Six decades of service, countless tales of courage, a legendary warhorse that carried the pride of a nation into the skies,” the IAF said.
The MiG-21 had a controversial legacy too. Owing to its notorious history of accidents, the jets came to be called “the flying coffin” or “widow-maker”.
The Russian-origin fighter jets had been haunting the IAF for years due to their abysmal record in flight safety. “In the last 60 years, over 200 pilots and 60 civilians lost their lives because of 400 crashes of MiG-21 caused by both human error and technical defects,” said a defence ministry official.
The MiG-21s made up a bulk of the IAF’s fighter and ground attack planes, accounting for some 20 squadrons or between 320 and 400 aircraft, he said. A squadron of fighters in the IAF usually have between 16 and 20 aircraft.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who was the chief guest at the decommissioning event, described the MiG-21 as a mighty machine and a national pride. “There is a deep attachment to the aircraft that shaped our confidence. MiG-21 is not only an aircraft or machine but also proof of deep India-Russia ties,” he said.
“The history of military aviation is incredible. The MiG-21 added many proud
moments in our military aviation journey.”
Besides Rajnath, former IAF chiefs A.Y. Tipnis, S.P. Tyagi and B.S. Dhanoa, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s first man on the International Space Station, and scores of veterans, many of whom had piloted the aircraft, were present on the occasion.
The culmination of MiG-21 operations took place with a ceremonial flypast and decommissioning event, which was followed by a majestic flypast of the MiG-21 aircraft and an aerial salute. The fighter pilots flew MiG-21s in the three-aircraft Badal formation, and the four-aircraft Panther pattern roared over the skies one final time.