Winged Farewell

For more than six decades a needle-nosed silhouette has defined the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 inducted in 1963 was a fixture of India’s military identity. Over 1,200 were acquired and for generations of pilots, their first brush with supersonic flight came at the controls of this Soviet workhorse. Today, as the IAF bids goodbye to the MiG-21 with a final ceremonial flight, the send-off marks the end of an era. It is also the beginning of a reckoning.

The MiG-21’s legacy is inextricably bound up with India’s modern military history. It was the hero of four conflicts with Pakistan, beginning with the 1965 war when India’s fledgling fleet of supersonic interceptors bested American-supplied Sabres. Its blistering climb rate, Mach-2 speed and nimble agility proved transformative in a region where air power was still rudimentary. Later, in 1971, the MiG-21 not only defended Indian skies but also strafed and bombed Pakistani positions, contributing to a decisive victory.

More than an instrument of war, the MiG-21 was virtually a classroom in the sky. Practically every IAF fighter pilot has trained on one variant or another. Over time the fleet expanded into a veritable alphabet of Soviet engineering - MiG-21s, 23s, 25s, 27s and 29s - that by 2006 made the Air Force jokingly known as the ‘MiG Air Force.’ The original, though, retained a mystique, being endlessly upgraded with new avionics, missiles and radars.

That versatility embodied the pragmatism of the IAF which stretched the jet’s utility far beyond the design expectations of its Russian makers. But longevity came at a price. By the 1990s, as airframes aged and the world moved on to stealth and multirole platforms, the MiG-21 increasingly looked like a relic. Its safety record deteriorated. More than 300 crashes over the decades scarred its reputation and gave rise to the chilling epithet of the ‘flying coffin.’

Yet to reduce its story to that unhappy nickname would be unjust. Few aircraft in aviation history have served so long, so widely or so faithfully.

The MiG-21 was both spear and shield for India. It also symbolised the Indo-Russian defence relationship, which has endured through ideological shifts, sanctions and strategic realignments.

The phasing out of the MiG-21 symbolizes a solemn moment of transition. The IAF is now pinning hopes on the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft to take up the mantle. If it succeeds, it will mark a strategic leap from dependency to self-reliance in military aviation.

The MiG-21 bows out with mixed emotions of pride, nostalgia and sorrow. It protected India’s skies in its most vulnerable decades, trained generations of aviators, and carried the tricolour into aerial duels that defined national memory.

Its final salute is also a reminder that sentimentality must not cloud sober assessment. Ageing platforms must give way to safer, more capable aircraft. The MiG-21 served India with distinction. Now the Tejas must prove it can do the same.