DNA Special: Why is Indian Air Force still flying obsolete MiG-21 aircraft?

The Indian Air Force is set to retire its Srinagar-based MiG-21 squadron 'Sword Arms' later this month. This squadron is special as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down America's modern F16 fighter jet with his MiG-21 Bison aircraft in February 2019. Although his plane also crashed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

At present, the Indian Air Force currently has four squadrons of MiG-21 Bison fighter jets posted in Srinagar, Uttarlai, Suratgarh and Nal. MiG-21 is to retire in the next three years. This means that by 2025, all MiG-21 aircraft will be retired from the Air Force.

But the question is why is the Indian Air Force still flying MiG-21 aircraft of the 60s?

MiG 21 ie Mikoyan Gurevich 21 was built by the Soviet Union and it flew for the first time on June 16, 1955. The MiG 21 was the world's first supersonic speed fighter aircraft. After the defeat of China in the 1962 war, India also felt the need for a modern fighter aircraft. Later, India signed a deal for MiG-21 aircraft from Russia in 1963, and since then, these aircraft have remained the backbone of the Indian Air Force.

Not just that, these planes played a decisive role for the country in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and then the Kargil War of 1999. At present, the Indian Air Force uses the updated version of MiG 21 i.e. MiG 21 Bison and for this reason, the fighting ability of these aircraft is still intact. However, the record of this aircraft in terms of safety is not good. And that's why these jets remain in the headlines for more negative reasons than positive ones.

According to Defense Ministry data, by 2012, nearly half of India's fleet of 872 MiGs had crashed, whereas between 2003 to 2013, 38 MiG 21 aircraft crashed. If we talk about the last 10 years from today, 20 MiG 21 planes have crashed.

From 1970 till today, more than 180 pilots of the Indian Air Force have been martyred in MiG aircraft. And for this reason, these planes are also called 'flying coffins' or 'widow makers'.

But you should also understand why our Air Force is still using them despite MiG-21 fighter jets being unsafe. Actually, the fleet of MiG planes was to be replaced with indigenously made Tejas aircraft. But this project was delayed not by years but decades.

According to defence experts, if India has to fight two-front wars i.e. with both Pakistan and China at the same time, then it should have at least 42 Squadrons of Fighter Aircraft. 

There are about 18 fighter jets in every squadron of fighter jets and in that sense, India needs at least 756 planes, but still, we are far behind this number.

Not only this, fighter aircraft like Jaguar and Mirage present in the IAF fleet are also getting old. Due to this, India bought Rafale's 2 squadrons from France. Apart from this, India has also got two squadrons of Tejas. These numbers are very less and that's why, the MiG-21 fighters which were supposed to be retired in 1990, are still being flown by our pilots.