India to retire MiG-21 fighter jets by 2025

The Indian Air Force is set to retire one of its four remaining squadrons of ageing MiG-21 fighter jets in September, with the other three scheduled to be phased out over the next three years, people familiar with the development said on Friday.

The phasing out of the squadrons is not linked to the 28 July Barmer crash that killed two fighter pilots, but is part of an earlier air force plan to replace the MiG-21s with newer fighter jets, the officials said.

The squadron being retired in two months is the Srinagar-based No. 51 squadron, which is also known as "Sword Arms," said one of the officials cited above, asking not to be named. Wing Commander (now Group Captain) Abhinandan Varthaman, who was awarded Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 during a dogfight over the Line of Control on 27 February, 2019, was in the No. 51 squadron then.

The dogfight took place a day after the IAF bombed a terror facility in Pakistan's Balakot.

Several MiG-21s have crashed in recent years with the accidents turning the spotlight on India's longest-serving fighter plane, its safety record and the IAF's plans to replace the ageing jets with newer ones in the coming years.

The air force got its first single-engine MiG-21 in 1963, and it went on to induct 874 variants of the Soviet-origin supersonic fighters to bolster its combat potential. More than 400 MiG-21s have been involved in accidents that have claimed the lives of around 200 pilots during the last six decades, the officials said.

More MiG-21s have crashed than any other fighter because they formed the bulk of the fighter aircraft in the IAF's inventory for a long time, and the air force had to keep its MiG-21 fleet flying longer than it would have liked because of delay in the induction of new fighters, they added.

"Was there a choice? You have to have a certain number of fighter planes to guard your skies. The induction of multi-role fighters was delayed, only 36 Rafales came instead of the projected requirement of 126 jets, the light combat aircraft (LCA) programme is behind schedule and fighters such as Sukhoi-30 have had serviceability issues. The IAF had to make do with its MiG-21 fleet," former assistant chief of air staff Air Vice Marshal Sunil Nanodkar (retired) earlier said.

The IAF will induct different variants of Tejas light combat aircraft to replace the MiG-21s.