MIG 21 - 6 Decades Of Triumphs, Tragedies, And A Legacy To Remember

It was Valentine's Day 1955 in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

On that winter morning - the high was just under -5 degrees Celsius - there was something in the air at Zhukovsky Airfield, an airbase some 40km from Moscow. but it wasn't romance.

It was the Ye-2, a Mikoyan and Gurevich-designed lightweight fighter-interceptor prototype that would become the MiG-21 and one of the world's most-produced combat aircraft.

Eight years later India received a first batch of 12 MiG-21 fighters and thus was born an and relationship with a plane that came to define several generations of the Indian military.

The MiG-21 and its variants would lead from the front in every major armed conflict since, including wars with Pakistan and, in the hands of Group Captain Abhinandan Vardhaman, shot down the more advanced US-developed Pak F-16 fighter. But now, an incredible 62 years on the story is about to end.

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Exactly one month from today the Indian Air Force's last remaining MiG-21 squadron will be stood down and the plane, with its iconic shock cone and delta wing, will be retired.

Ahead of that sad day the planes made their last flights last week, operating out of the Nal Air Force station in Rajasthan's Bikaner. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh flew solo sorties, marking an emotional moment for generations of fighter pilots who trained on and flew the Russian jet.

The MiG-21's Entry Into India

In 1963 India acquired its first batch - there were 13 of them - of MiG-21 planes.

MiG-21F-13, designated Type 74 from 1963

The Air Force was then looking for a high-altitude interceptor designed to counter aircraft like the American U-2 spy plane. That was it... that was why India bought the MiG-21.

But the aircraft's role evolved well beyond its original design, extending to ground attack capabilities, fighter reconnaissance, and air defence, and even training fighter pilots, although that was not an original design inclusion. In fact, when it entered service, only the Air Force's most experienced pilots were allowed access because of demanding flight characteristics.

The aircraft's small size, limited cockpit visibility, and high landing speed - of over 300 km/h - made it unforgiving, particularly for novices transitioning from subsonic to supersonic planes.

But it became a favourite and the fact it endured as the backbone of the Air Force till the mid-2000s, when the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30MKIs were inducted, is an immense achievement.

Over the years the MiG-21 was upgraded with advanced weaponry and avionics, and thus became something more than 'just a fighter jet'. The MiG-21 came to symbolise Indo-Russian military ties, a relationship that, like the plane, endured decades and still stands strong.

The MiG-21 In Indian Military History

India's MiG-21s have seen combat through every decade from the time they were inducted, making them an iconic and integral part of the country's military and aviation history.

In the 1970s they were deployed in air superiority and ground attack missions during the war with Pakistan, shooting down enemy fighters and providing escorts deep into Pak territory.

Then, as today, the MiG-21s were decisive in neutralising Pak's US-supplied planes.

In the 1980s they fought in Sri Lanka, albeit in a limited capacity. MiG-21s were used for air cover and reconnaissance purposes as part of Indian peacekeeping forces.

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Then, in the 1990s, in the Kargil War, the old warhorse came good again, this time in limited ground attack and air defence missions. And, over the next three decades, time and again the MiG-21 was tested - by Pak and China - and it came through with flying colours.

In the 2010s India's precision air strikes on terror camps in Pak - as retaliation for the 2019 Pulwama terrorist attack - underlined the continuing power of the MiG-21s, and in the 2020s, the planes flew again, this time patrolling along the Line of Actual Control with China in Ladakh.

Over 50 years of continuous and decorated military service is a record few planes can match.

The MiG-21 Today

India today has 36 MiG-21 variants left in its arsenal, a far cry from the nearly 900 - of which around 660 were built in India - that so successfully protected the nation's skies and territories.

The final variant - the ones which will now be phased out - was the Bison, which featured upgraded electronics and better navigation and communications systems.

Introduced in the early 2000s, it has an Israeli jammer, Russian R-77 and R-73 missiles, a partial glass cockpit, and a helmet-mounted sight. Its short scramble time makes it ideal for forward bases like Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, where it outperformed alternatives like the MiG-29.

A MiG-21 in the foreground with a line of modern Sukhoi fighters waiting to take over

Now, the Bison may be an old, old hand... but, in the right hands, it is still a formidable weapon, as Group Captain Vardhaman showed in 2019, engaging and shooting down a Pak F-16 fighter jet, a multirole plane at least two generations more advanced.

The MiG-21 Legacy

It is almost unfair that the MiG-21 was also given the moniker 'the flying coffin'.

The phasing out of the MiG-21 fleet comes after numerous crashes involving the aging plane, including an incident in Rajasthan in May 2023 in which the three villagers were killed.

READ | MiG-21's Final Flight: Why Training, Not The Jet, Failed Air Force Pilots

The MiG-21 in question took off from the Suratgarh Air Force base for a routine exercise when it crashed near Bahlol Nagar in Rajasthan's Hanumangarh after a 'technical snag'.

The Air Force grounded the entire MiG-21 fleet after that accident.

But 'the flying coffin' is only a small part of the MiG-21's extraordinary legacy. The plane's aerial prowess - its speed, climb rate, and agility in particular - helped India safeguard its skies.

And remember, this was over 50 years ago, when India was a young country with a nascent military. And therein lies another part of the legacy. Hundreds of MiG-21 planes were produced in India, under license, and that strengthened the country's aerospace and defence industry.

The MiG-21 trained thousands of fighter pilots, the Bison shot down an US-made F-16 - the first time by a MiG anywhere, and, it almost single-handedly, dragged India into the modern age of jet fighters.