Overview

• The Indian Air Force will decommission its last MiG-21 Bison squadron at Air Force Station Chandigarh, closing a chapter that began with the jet’s 1963 induction.
• Air Commodore Surendra Singh Tyagi, holder of a record 4,306 flying hours on the MiG-21, is petitioning for one final sortie and has offered his logbook to the IAF museum.
• Aviation expert Anchit Gupta contends that systemic training deficiencies, rather than design flaws, underlie the roughly 300 MiG-21 accidents that earned it the “flying coffin” label.
• The MiG-21 fleet, manufactured under license by HAL at Ozar and Koraput, saw action from the 1971 “runway buster” strikes through Kargil to the 2019 Balakot operation.
• Delays in the Tejas Mk1A induction have extended the MiG-21’s service and will leave IAF combat squadron strength at a multi-decade low of 29 until replacements arrive.