IAF to delay retirements of Mig-21 by two years

[IND151]

After having served for half a century as the mainstay Indian combat aircraft, the much maligned MiG 21 fighters may get yet another life extension due to delays in modernisation programmes of the Indian Air Force.

The IAF, which celebrated 50 years of the MiG 21 in its service with a book release function by Air Chief N A K Browne, has said that 264 fighters continue to remain in service and may even be part of the active fleet till 2018-19.

This is a two-year extension in service of the fighters — upgraded several times — that were scheduled to retire by 2017, as per Defence Ministry statements.

The extension of two years, at a time when the focus has returned on their poor safety record due to a large number of accidents, will most likely not be for the entire MiG 21 fleet, but the Bison variant.

The MiG 21 fleet was to be originally replaced by the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), but with the indigenous fighter still nowhere close to reaching full operational capabilities, the IAF had opted for a medium combat aircraft contest that has been won by Rafale. However, with a contract yet to be signed, it may take at least four years for the first of the new fighters to come in.

Speaking at a function after releasing the book “First to the Last: 50 years of MiG -215 with the IAF” by Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar (retd) and Pushpinder Singh, Air Chief Browne said the MiG 21 fleet still forms a major chunk of the IAF fighter strength. He pointed out that out of the 874 aircraft ordered by the IAF, 264 are still flying and has always had an ‘aggressive edge’.

Several serving and retired IAF personnel who have flow the fighters over the last 50 years were present at the function that took place here. Also present were Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin and Sergey Korotkov, Director General RAC (MiG), who lead a team of officials from the aircraft manufacturer.

IAF to delay retirements of Mig-21 by two years | idrw.org

 

[ptltejas]

 

[whitefox011]

poor us

 

[SRP]

ohhh no!!!

 

[Leonidas]

Oh come on now. Get Tejas in, for God's sake.

 

[Alpha1]

Mig 21 the widow maker, flying coffin

 

[SirHatesALot]

sign the mmrca deal already

 

[Foo_Fighter]

In totality it is pure SAD.

Look how lowly budgeted Pakistan came up with JF-17 (with China's collaboration) and its operational with them. We should take a lesson from them and start delivering more (ref LCA)

 

[Ayush]

that means tejas delayed by 2 more years??

 

[Pulsar]

Oh damn!

We suck!

 

[janon]

Mig 21 the widow maker, flying coffin

And yet more potent than a lot of aircrafts with our adversaries. Lucky for us.

 

[acetophenol]

Why all these rants? MiG 21 Bisons are really potent platforms with fairly good safety records. They really kicked As$ in various excercises,especially during the Red Flag were it won praises for its superb performance against F 16s and F 15s.
Infact,I would love to see the MiG 21 Bisons stay with us,but without no doubt,all other variants has to go ASAP.

 

[arp2041]

that means tejas delayed by 2 more years??

Nope.

It's just BACK-UP.

Tejas will get FOC in 2015.

First 40 ac of Tejas Mk1 will be ready only by 2017-18.

Again, MMRCA will be signed later this year.

18 ac in fly away condition will be inducted only by 2016-17 (1st squadron)

After that HAL will start production with an initial rate of only 6 ac/year that means first HAL produced squadron only by 2018-19.

In the mean time though we will be getting 40 Super Sukhois, but we are talking about retiring 250 odd ac, though they are much better qualitatively but QUANTITY CANNOT BE REPLACED BY QUALITY.

 

[Archie]

as per my calculations , we only have 1 sqd of non Bison Mig21 in service

That should retire once the 11th Su30MKI Sqd gets inducted

Nope.

It's just BACK-UP.

Tejas will get FOC in 2015.

First 40 ac of Tejas Mk1 will be ready only by 2017-18.

Again, MMRCA will be signed later this year.

18 ac in fly away condition will be inducted only by 2016-17 (1st squadron)

After that HAL will start production with an initial rate of only 6 ac/year that means first HAL produced squadron only by 2018-19.

In the mean time though we will be getting 40 Super Sukhois, but we are talking about retiring 250 odd ac, though they are much better qualitatively but QUANTITY CANNOT BE REPLACED BY QUALITY.

We do not have 264 Mig 21 in service
thats a typo
Its more like 164 including Fighters and Trainers

 

[arp2041]

We do not have 264 Mig 21 in service
thats a typo
Its more like 164 including Fighters and Trainers

I know, we have about 150 or so mig-21 & 100 odd mig-27.

Both of which were to retire by 2017 as per the Air Chief.

But we don't have replacement of these 250 ac by 2017, so the plan to retire the migs have been pushed further to 2018-19.