India to Bid Farewell to MiG-21 Jets After 60 Years of Service

• Ceremony for decommissioning set for September 19 in Chandigarh.
• Since its induction in 1963, over 400 MiG-21s have been lost in crashes.
• Indigenous Tejas jets are set to replace the phased-out MiG-21 fleet.

In September, India will officially retire its remaining fleet of MiG-21 fighter jets, marking the end of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) longest and most contentious aircraft lineage.

As reported by the Indian Express, the final two MiG-21 Bison squadrons will be officially decommissioned at a ceremony on September 19 at Chandigarh airbase. This decision comes after nearly six decades of service, during which these Soviet-designed jets became a cornerstone of the IAF.

Originally inducted in 1963, India received more than 700 MiG-21 aircraft of various models, including the Type-77, Type-96, BIS, and the upgraded Bison version.

The MiG-21 acquired the grim nickname “flying coffin” following numerous incidents, with estimates indicating that over 400 jets were lost, leading to more than 100 fatalities among pilots and civilians.

Notably, in May 2023, a MiG-21 crashed near Suratgarh in Rajasthan during a training mission, resulting in the deaths of three civilians. A year before that, another crash took the lives of two senior IAF officers.

The vulnerability of this fleet was highlighted during a standoff between Pakistan and India in February 2019, when a MiG-21 piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was downed by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

The plan to phase out the MiG-21s was initially set to be completed by 2022 but encountered delays due to the slow rollout of replacement aircraft. The indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is now anticipated to take over following the retirement of the MiG-21s.