On September 26, after more than 60 years in operational service, the MiG-21 will be put out to pasture.
By Ajai Shukla
The Diplomat, 24 Sept 25
For a quarter of a century, much of the news about the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been about the abysmal flight safety record of its premier fighter – the redoubtable MiG-21.
On September 26, after more than 60 years in operational service, the few MiG-21s still flying in IAF squadrons will be put out to pasture.
The MiG-21 was designed in the 1950s by the Soviet Union’s famed Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau. It has evolved steadily, its design improving incrementally from the sub-sonic MiG-15s and MiG-17 into the supersonic MiG-19 fighter. From that has emerged the MiG-21, a brute of a fighter that flies at velocities that exceed Mach 2.
The statistics around the MiG-21 are astonishing. 874 MiG-21 variants have entered IAF service since 1963, of which more than 400 – almost half the overall number – were lost to crashes. Some 200 IAF pilots have lost their lives in flying accidents because, for one reason or another, they were unable to eject and parachute to safety.
The MiG-21 is the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history, with 60 countries having built or flown 11,500 of these aircraft.
Yet, the MiG-21 has earned the sobriquet of Flying Coffins or Widow Makers. One of the primary reasons for that is that it is among the most difficult of fighters to fly. To take off for its primary mission, which was originally to carry out high-speed, high-altitude interceptions of U.S. strategic bombers, such as the legendary U-2 Dragon Lady, the MiG-21 has to be accelerated to a speed of 340 km per hour on the ground – almost twice the velocity of many contemporary fighters. It lands at almost the same speed, leaving very little time for the pilot to react to any emergency.
Second, ejecting from a MiG-21 is a hazardous business, with spinal injuries common when a pilot’s backbone encounters the atmosphere at speeds significantly higher than those of other fighter aircraft. This may have caused pilots to be reluctant to eject from the fighter in good time. Former IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, a highly experienced pilot who has bailed out from a stricken MiG-21 fighter, hinted at this during a television interview when he said: “200-plus pilots have been killed in [MiG-21] crashes. They are supposed to eject. Why did they not eject? That is what pains me.”
Finally, combat aviation experts and IAF courts of inquiry have attributed the high number of MiG-21 crashes to the failure of the military procurement machinery, especially the Ministry of Defense (MoD), to procure modern fighter aircraft in the large numbers needed to replace the remaining MiG-21 squadrons.
The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project was intended to bring into service a large number of light and inexpensive fighters that would replace the MiG-21. But instead of working with the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to develop and certify the Tejas, the IAF has kept demanding greater capabilities from the Tejas, leading to cascading delays in bringing the indigenous fighter into service, which would have paved the way for retiring the MiG-21 quickly.
Over the years, aviation experts have pointed out that the crash rate for MiG-21s is not significantly higher than that for the IAF’s non-MiG aircraft, if one structures the comparison fairly. One cannot compare apples with oranges; one has to compare them with apples. Similarly, the MiG-21 can only be compared fairly with a 1960s-vintage, single-engine fighter, using data derived over a long period of time.
Another drawback in the MiG-21 is that, like many aircraft designed as interceptors, it has a severely limited range.
According to combat aviation expert Archit Gupta, the IAF’s MiG-21 fleet has clocked about 1.5 million flying hours. If that is paired with a count of losses (~390), the MiG-21’s accident rate works out to roughly 26.3 per 100,000 flight hours. That is in line with what other 1960s single-engine fighters experienced globally, even with unique India-specific factors like bird strikes, environmental challenges, and prolonged service life pushing against it.
Now, with two squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1 in operational service and four squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1A on order, there is renewed expectation that large numbers of Tejas fighters will be available to replace the MiG-21. The IAF and the MoD are also expediting the long-delayed procurement of 114 multi-role, twin-engine fighters, which will be needed to replace heavier IAF combat aircraft so that squadron numbers remain at the desired number of 42.
MiG-21 Variants in India’s Skies
The first MiG-21 variant to serve in the IAF was the MiG-21, F-13, Type-74 Fishbed-C. Six of these fighters were acquired in March 1963 and served till 1968. They were armed with the K-13 missile and a 30 mm cannon.
The First Supersonics was the name given to Number 28 Squadron, the squadron that ferried in from the Soviet Union the first MiG-21s to Chandigarh in 1963.
In March 1965, the IAF got the PF variant of the MiG-21 (P stands for Perekhvatchik or interceptor, while F stands for Forsirovannyy or uprated). This variant had an R-11F2-300 engine for better endurance and an 1L search radar.
The T-77 variant of the MiG-21 gradually became the main variant in service. Aircraft kept their original serials, but the prefix BC was changed to C 29 and 28 for the only ones to operate the T-74 and T-76.
The lack of an integral cannon was in sync with the “gun versus missile” debate of the times. However, a gun continues to feature in all modern fighter aircraft.
In a major step in 1966, the IAF contracted for the MiG-21 FL Type 77 variant. FL denotes forsazhlocator, which means “afterburner and radar.” Of these aircraft, 38 were manufactured in the USSR and another 197 were manufactured by India’s public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) between 1966 and 1973.
The Type 77 was an improvement on the Type 76: with a new R2L radar, IFF antenna, radar warning, larger fuel capacity and attachable gun pack GP-9, consisting of a twin-barreled 23 mm Gasha gun on the center point. Type 77 was regarded as the first usable variant for the IAF.
Type 77 also heralded the era of using the MiG-21 in an air-to-ground role. 500 kg bombs were delivered at Tilpat Range in 1967. For their bombing role in the 1971 War, they earned the nickname “runway busters.”
Type 77 initially had two hard points under their wings for air-to-air missiles, and one center line for drop tanks/ GP-9 gun pods. In the 1980s, it was decided to have four wing hard points for bombs. This enhanced usability.
Type 77 would serve the IAF for 47 years across 11 combat squadrons. The longest flying variant, it was extensively used in Type Training post-1986. It was also the first instance of mass production by HAL.
High-altitude combat was rare; mid/low altitude capability was critical. The MiG-21M/MF (translates into Modernizirovannyy, or modernized) Type-96 Fishbed J was the IAF’s latest addition in 1973.
Now, with two squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1 in operational service and four squadrons of the Tejas Mark 1A on order, there is renewed expectation that Tejas fighters will become available in numbers to replace the retiring MiG-21s.
The IAF will then have three fighter production lines, each of them assembling an indigenous fighter for the Indian fleet. One production line in HAL will assemble six squadrons of Tejas fighters – both Mark 1 and Mark 2. A second assembly line, possibly run by an indigenous private sector firm, in partnership with a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM), will build 114 medium, multi-role fighter aircraft to fill a shortfall of six squadrons in the fleet.
Meanwhile, a third assembly line will build five to six squadrons of the indigenous advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA), forming the cutting edge of India’s fleet and making up the shortfalls still left by the MiG-21.
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