Overview
- Air Chief Marshal A P Singh flew the final MiG-21 Bison sortie in the ceremonial flypast under the call sign Badal 3.
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lauded the jet as national pride and a symbol of India–Russia ties as Akash Ganga, Surya Kiran and a water cannon salute marked the send-off.
- The last aircraft came from No. 23 Squadron (Panthers), with the final operational flights completed at Nal, Bikaner, in August.
- India inducted more than 850–870 MiG-21s since 1963, many licence-built by HAL, and the type saw combat from the 1965 and 1971 wars to Kargil and the 2019 Balakot operation.
- Parliamentary records cite hundreds of crashes with significant fatalities over decades, and the fleet is being replaced by Tejas variants with Mk1A deliveries reported to begin in October.