India is set to formally retire its remaining MiG-21 fighter jets in September, marking the end of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) longest-serving and most controversial aircraft fleet.
According to a report by the Indian Express, the final two MiG-21 Bison squadrons will be decommissioned at a ceremonial event scheduled for September 19 at the Chandigarh airbase. This move concludes nearly six decades of service during which these Soviet-origin jets formed the backbone of the IAF.
First inducted in 1963, India acquired over 700 MiG-21s across various models, including the Type-77, Type-96, BIS, and the upgraded Bison version.
The MiG-21 earned the notorious nickname “flying coffin” following a series of crashes. Estimates suggest that over 400 of these jets have been lost, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 pilots and civilians. Notably, in May 2023, a MiG-21 crashed near Rajasthan’s Suratgarh during a training sortie, claiming the lives of three civilians. A year prior, another crash tragically killed two senior IAF officers.
The fleet’s vulnerability became particularly evident during a Pakistan-India standoff in February 2019, when a MiG-21 flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
The phasing out of the MiG-21 fleet was initially planned to conclude by 2022 but experienced delays due to the slow induction of replacement aircraft. The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is now expected to fill the operational gap left by the retirement of the MiG-21s.
