End of an Era: MiG-21 to retire after over 60 years of service

India Today

India’s first supersonic fighter jet, the MiG-21, is set to take its final flight in September 2025—ending an unmatched six-decade journey in the Indian Air Force.

Transcript

00:00You know, I was six years old when I first saw the image of a MiG-21.

00:04India's first supersonic fighter jet, the MiG-21, is poised for its final flight in September

00:082025 after serving in the Indian Air Force for six decades.

00:11Now I am in my 50s and the aircraft, which is older than me, is finally retiring.

00:17The MiG-21 isn't just another aircraft headed for retirement.

00:20It's a war hero whose wings have carried decades of combat legacy,

00:23diplomatic ties and stories of valor.

00:25The MiG-21 brought in numbers. You know, at a time when India really needed it,

00:30you were looking at two adversaries on the west and in the north, Pakistan and China.

00:35Well, the MiG-21s came in 1963, that's two years before the 1965 war.

00:40It didn't see too much of action in 1965, but it was in the 1971 Indo-Pak war

00:45that the MiGs performed outstandingly well in.

00:47It was this MiG-21 mission that not only shook the erstwhile East Pakistan,

00:51but also the general setting in West Pakistan.

00:53When the entire East Pakistan cabinet was meeting,

00:57of course, this intelligence had come to India.

00:59The Indian Air Force sent in a MiG-21 flight of about six MiG-21s.

01:03They conducted a rocketing run-off government house

01:06and the cabinet was so astonished over there

01:09that they couldn't believe that they were under attack in the heart of East Pakistan.

01:13You literally don't see it coming.

01:15It paints so small on your radar picture

01:18and before you know it, it's on you.

01:20It's a small, it's a delta wing aircraft.

01:23It flies at nearly Mark 2, two times the speed of sound.

01:27It's a very compact aircraft.

01:29India's induction of the MiG-21 from the Soviets

01:31marked the beginning of a defense partnership

01:33that still defines Indo-Russian ties today.

01:35When the Western countries were reluctant to sell us supersonic fighter aircraft,

01:39they'd sold Pakistan the F-104 starfighters.

01:42But when India went to shop for similar fighters,

01:45they were turned down.

01:46So India turned to the Soviet Union

01:48and the Soviets offered us the MiG-21.

01:50The MiG-21's legacy of valor lived on even in its later years.

01:53In 2019, when Pakistan crossed,

01:57when Pakistani Air Force crossed the international border,

02:00the line of control and dropped ordnance,

02:02Abhinandan took off from Srinagar and chased after them.

02:05The Indian Air Force claims that Abhinandan brought down one F-16.

02:09There is reason to believe that there was one fighter,

02:13one other aircraft that was downed by Abhinandan.

02:16We remember seeing those two pilots,

02:19the talk of those two parachutes in the air.

02:21In 2012, then Union Defense Minister A.K. Anthony said

02:24that 482 of 870 to MiG-21 jets had crashed since the induction.

02:28This got it the infamous nickname, the Flying Coffin.

02:31The MiG-21 was operated by the Indian Air Force

02:34at least 10 years past the time it should have been retired.

02:37But the problem is that because the LCA was not coming

02:40in the numbers that they wanted to,

02:41they could not literally leave a hole in their capability.

02:45Its final years may have been rough,

02:46but the MiG-21 leaves behind a legacy of cutting-edge tech and fearless service.

02:51and the MiG-21 is too early.

02:53And then the MiG-21 has been trained to do

02:55with the MiG-21's management abilities.

02:56And then the MiG-21 was tested by the LCA,

02:58and the MiG-20's system was tested by thearella Saifukin.

03:00This will be a handful of different angles,

03:01but the MiG-21 has found its soleilet.

03:02But the MiG-21 has been marine,

03:03and the MiG-21 has been tested by the MiG-21 as a multi-moral man.

03:04The MiG-21 has been tested by the importance of stopping

03:06the MiG-21 in the air force of the M-21 together.

03:08The MiG-21 has been tested by the M-21-21s of the mobile

03:10and the MiG-21 has been tested by the main

03:11on the MiG-21.

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