India produced more than 600 MiG-21s
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has decided to retire the remaining squadrons of the Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter jets in September. They are being replaced with the single-engine Mk-1A.
Top Points On MiG-21 Jets:
- MiG-21s, known as the workhorse of the Air Force for several decades, entered service in 1963 on a trial basis, a year after India bought them from the Soviet Union.
- The supersonic fighter jets were India's first combat aircraft of non-Western origin.
- They went on to become the asset of the IAF from 1970 to the mid-2000s, till the Su-30MKIs were pressed into action.
- MiG-21s could operate in all weather and carry a wide variety of air-to-ground munitions in an attack role.
- They also played a major role during the 1971 war with Pakistan, dropping about 500 kg bombs on the Pakistani air bases.
- The war, which started on December 3 and ended with the Pakistani armed forces surrendering 13 days later, leading to the creation of Bangladesh, also saw the first-ever encounter between the MiG-21 and Pakistan's F-104A, with India dominating the skies.
- MiG-21s remained an "immense asset" for over a quarter century, the Indian Air Force has written on its website.
- "The quantity vs quality dilemma inevitably faced by most of the world's air forces as a consequence of spiralling costs was mitigated for the IAF by the large-scale availability of the MiG-21, which type will surely go down as one of aviation history's all-time classics," it has said.
- The legacy of MiG-21, however, has been marred by several accidents in the recent past.
- India, which produced more than 600 MiG-21s, will replace them with single-engine Tejas Mk-1A jets.
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