The ageing MiG-21 fighter jets have been in the spotlight due to frequent crashes. In the last 60 years, 200 pilots killed in more than 400 MiG-21s accidents

Photo Credit : Wikimedia Commons,

After three and a half years of the Balakot airstrike, the Indian Air Force will retire one of its four remaining squadrons of the ageing MiG-21 fighter jets on 30 September. The Srinagar-based No. 51 squadron, also known as "Sword Arms”. 

According to the official, the remaining three MiG-21 squadrons would be phased out by 2025.

Wing Commander (now Group Captain) Abhinandan Varthaman was part of the squadron at the time of the Balakot airstrike, who received the Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 combat aircraft on 27 February 2019, during a dogfight over the Line of Control.

The dogfight occurred after the Indian Air Force's Mirage-2000 aircraft struck the area in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and destroyed a terror complex in Balakot, Pakistan. The assault was a response to the Pulwama suicide attack in Kashmir on 14 February that claimed the lives of 40 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

After receiving its first single-engine MiG-21 in 1963, the Air Force went on to acquire 874 different models of the Soviet-made supersonic fighter to increase its combat capacity.

MiG-21s have been in the spotlight due to its frequent crashes. Over the previous six decades, 200 pilots were killed in more than 400 MiG-21s accidents. Delays in the introduction of new aircraft, the Air Force had to maintain its MiG-21 fleet in operation for a longer time than it should be.

Now, the IAF is introducing various Tejas light combat aircraft versions to replace the MiG-21s.