Is it Time to Shelf the Mighty MiG-21?
On May 8, 2023, Indian-owned fighter jet MiG-21 crashed near Rajasthan and killed two civilians. Indian Air Force has a long history of crashing the fighter jet, prominently MiG-21. These fighter jets in India are named “Flying Coffin” and “Widow Makers”. MiG-21 was procured in 1963 from Russia, and since that time, in its 60 years of history, 170 pilots of IAF have been killed by them.
Since 2010, there have been a number of incidents where 20 MiG-21 have crashed till now. Two MiG-21 crashed, right after a year of induction in 1963. Similarly, in 2021, six MiG-21 were crashed which resulted in the killing of 3 people. Whereas in 2022, two pilots were also killed by trainer version of the MiG-21. One of the most prominent incidents happened in 2019 when Indian Fighter Pilot named Abhinandan Varthaman crashed a MiG-21 across the international border into Pakistan’s territory and was later captured by Pakistan Air Force. This incident resulted in worldwide embarrassment for IAF and exposed their irresponsible conduct in operational field. Indian authorities in keeping with their history of fabricated reality, claimed downing Pakistan’s JF-16 with their already controversial MiG-21.
MiG-21 has 7 active squadrons, 4 of which will be phased out by 2025. As per various reports, China’s Western Command has close to 2,566 fighter aircraft, while Pakistan has nearly 970 fighter jets. To counter the threat from Pakistan and China, India is trying to adopt a rational approach that can help them fill the gap and also maintain the balance of power.In 2012, former Defence Minister AK Antony said in Parliament that more than half of the 872 MiG aircraft purchased from Russia had crashed, in which, more than 200 persons, including 171 pilots, 39 civilians and eight other service people had lost their lives.There are likely chances that MiG-21 will be replaced by the Tejas LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) which was manufactured in the 1980s. Tejas were operationalized in 2001 but it was actively operated in 2018.
After a detailed assessment of the Indian Air Force’s back-to-back aerial disasters, why India is still using MiG-21 on operational grounds. One of the primary reasons behind still using the MiG-21 could be due to the aircraft shortage within Indian Air Force. Experts in India believe that despite inducting Tejas LCA and Rafael, the entire weight of IAF is on MiG-21 as a primary fighter jet. The IAF has 32 squadrons as of now, while an estimated 42 squadrons are required per the IAF to handle a combined threat from China and Pakistan. Another reason is that MiG-21 also serves as a trainer aircraft for budding new pilots.
While Indian continues to project ‘Make in India’ campaign on global scale coupled with its Defense indigenization propaganda, its strategic calculations seem troubled in terms of Indian Air Force’s confidence in the locally manufactured Tejas LCA. Even an India continue pursuing heavy defense indigenization and billion-dollar defense deals on international scale, the IAF will inevitably face the dilemma of inadequacy in terms of arial combat preparedness.
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source https://globalcourant.com/the-legacy-of-indian-failures/
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