MiG-21 flies into history: IAF bids goodbye to its legendary workhorse

As the sun sets on one of the most iconic fleets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the MiG-21 flies into history, it is a nostalgic time for a few generations of pilots, engineers, and other air warriors who were hands-on and rubbed shoulders with this great machine. IAF finally winds down the last MiG-21 “Bison”, the 23 Squadron “Panthers”, on 26 September, at a very special ceremony at Chandigarh, the very airbase where the MiG-21 had first been inducted into IAF.

The MiG-21 is the most mass-produced supersonic fighter jet in military aviation history, with over 11,000 produced. It was known for its small size, lightweight, speed, agility, manoeuvrability, and versatility. It could operate as a high-altitude air defence interceptor, had a significant ground attack capability, and was also used in a reconnaissance role.

The revolutionary design for its time featured a pencil fuselage with a delta wing and a conventional tailplane whose response was controlled by a very simple but unique mechanism, the ARU (Automated Regulator Unit). The very characteristic shock cone in the front air intake was unique and peculiar, and left little space for a decent-sized radar. Like many aircraft designed as interceptors, the MiG-21 had a short range. The aircraft was known for its simple, rugged, and affordable design, making it ideal for widespread adoption.

It was first inducted into the IAF in 1963 and served for over six decades. It served with élan in nearly every conflict involving India since then and especially proved its combat edge against better adversaries in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Despite a significant upgrade, the aircraft had aged and become technologically outdated, and was gradually phased out from most air forces.

IAF was among the very few air forces that stretched the aircraft to beyond sixty years. In later years, the aircraft was given negative monikers, perhaps unfairly, like “flying coffin” and “widow maker” due to a spate of fatal accidents, thus putting greater pressure for its retirement. As Air Chief Marshal Tipnis once wrote, “a lady whose enormous virtues get obliterated by the mishaps blown out of proportion.” Kudos not just to the pilots but more so to the engineers and ground crew who kept the machines flying.

Its retirement is an emotional time for a few generations of Indian fighter pilots. Indian media is replete with nostalgic reminiscences of great aviators and Air Veterans. The author himself honed his combat flying skills on this aircraft starting in 1974. He was later the Team Leader of the MiG-21 Upgrade project in Russia during 1996–2000. The aircraft was to be replaced by “Tejas” LCA Mk1 & 1A. Hopefully Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will be able to ramp up production and fill the IAF with numbers.

The MiG-21 Story

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 was designed as a supersonic jet interceptor aircraft by the MiG Design Bureau of the Soviet Union. It made its maiden flight on 16 June 1955. The MiG-21 was an airplane that hewed to the classic “perfect is the enemy of good enough” approach. The Soviets wanted to fill the sky with thousands of simple, lightweight, reliable jets. Over 60 countries across four continents have flown the MiG-21. A combat-loaded MiG-21bis could climb at 46,250 ft/min, quite close to the performance of the later F-16A. MiG-21s were replaced by the newer variable-geometry MiG-23 and MiG-27 for ground support duties. However, it was only the MiG-29 that ultimately replaced the MiG-21 as a manoeuvring dogfighter to counter new American air superiority types.

The maximum speed of 2,237 km/h or Mach 2.05 at 13,000 m, and 1,300 km/h or Mach 1.06 at sea level, was formidable for its time. The aircraft armament included one GSh-23 mm gun with 200 rounds. It had 5 hard-points with a capacity of up to 2,000 kg of stores, with provisions to carry combinations of bombs, rockets, and missiles or fuel drop-tanks. In later variants it included the latest air-to-air missiles: the R-73, R-77, and R-27.

In the Vietnam War, despite US F-4 Phantoms having massive firepower, good on-board radar, better speed and acceleration, they suffered higher losses. The first-ever MiG-21 victory came in 1966 over Vietnam, when a North Vietnamese pilot shot down an American Ryan Firebee surveillance drone cruising at 59,000 feet. Its small frontal profile and lightweight design made the MiG-21 difficult for adversary pilots to spot, providing a crucial element of surprise. On 26 December 1972, a Vietnamese MiG-21MF claimed the first aerial combat kill of a B-52 Stratofortress, launching two K-13 missiles from 2 kilometres.

It led the US Navy to create their Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) in March 1969. The USAF quickly began Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) in a program called “Red Flag.” The losses forced American pilots to adapt new strategies and ultimately develop improved tactics. The MiG-21 significantly outperformed the F-105 in most flight regimes. According to Russian data, in air battles, the North Vietnamese MiG-21s credited 165 air victories, with the loss of 65 aircraft (a few by accident) and 16 pilots. As per another source,

the MiG-21 variants scored 240 lifetime victories by the end of 2017.

The MiG-21 IAF Variants

In 1961, the IAF opted to purchase the MiG-21 over several other Western competitors. As part of the deal, the Soviet Union offered India full transfer of technology and rights for local assembly. Since 1963, IAF has inducted more than 1,200 different MiG fighters. Meanwhile, factories were set up at Nasik (aircraft), Hyderabad (avionics), and Koraput (engines) with Soviet assistance. HAL produced 657 aircraft of three variants: MiG-21FL, MiG-21M, and MiG-21bis.

The first MiG-21 variant introduced into the IAF in 1963 was the MiG-21 Type-74. The MiG-21FL (Type-77), inducted in 1966, was a significant upgrade, as the IAF insisted on improvements such as a twin-barrel 23 mm gun pack. It was the first variant to be manufactured in India by HAL and marked the beginning of the MiG-21’s role in both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat for the IAF. It was powered by the Tumanskii R-11 engine having 60.6 kN (13,635 lbf) thrust with afterburner. The aircraft performed outstandingly in the 1971 Indo-Pak War.

The Type-96, the MiG-21M/MF fighter jet, was introduced to India in 1973. It had a significant upgrade featuring R-11 or R-13 engines, upgraded radar (Almaz), and improved air-to-air missiles (R-60). It was also assembled locally by HAL. The Type-96 served in various roles, including point defence and photo reconnaissance using British Vinten cameras.

The Type-75 (MiG-21bis) was the ultimate development of the original MiG-21 design. Inducted in 1975–78, it featured the more powerful Tumansky R-25-300 turbojet engine and significantly improved avionics, including a search-and-track radar, compared to earlier models. It also included a Sirena-3 RWR (radar warning receiver), an IFF (identification friend or foe) system, and a gyro gun-sight. It was a multirole aircraft capable of air-to-air combat and ground attack with bombs and missiles.

MiG-21 Upgrade ‘Bison’

To stretch its operational life and to give it significant multi-role capability, IAF went for the MiG-21 upgrade in the mid-1990s, jointly with the MiG Design Bureau in Russia. The aircraft was named “Bison.” It had a MiG-29 bubble canopy and wraparound windscreen; a far more capable “Kopyo” radar; a helmet-mounted weapons sight; a redesigned HOTAS cockpit (Hands on Throttle and Stick); and beyond-visual-range, fire-and-forget advanced missiles such as the R-73 and R-77, with better navigation and communication systems. It also got the ELTA EW Pod, an indigenous RWR “Tarang,” improved avionics, and a new head-up display. It also acquired TV-guided bombs.

A total of 125 were inducted in six squadrons. The Indian upgrade team was able to convince designers to change the old MiG-29 type display symbology to the Western approach symbols, like in Mirage 2000 and Jaguar, on HUD and MFD. These and other modifications created a fourfold increase in the airplane’s capability and brought it up to roughly the level of the early F-16 variants. Its crowning moment came when Wing Commander Abhinandan shot down a Pakistani F-16 in 2019.

MiG-21’s Operational History in India

Due to limited induction numbers and insufficient pilot training, the IAF MiG-21 played a limited role in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. However, the IAF gained valuable experience. The capabilities of the MiG-21 were put to the test during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The MiG-21s played a crucial role in giving the IAF air superiority in both western and eastern theatres.

The 1971 war witnessed the first supersonic air combat in the subcontinent when an Indian MiG-21FL claimed a PAF F-104A Starfighter with its GSh-23 twin-barrel 23 mm cannon. By the end of the hostilities, the IAF MiG-21FLs had shot down four PAF F-104s, two Shenyang F-6s, and one PAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules. According to one Western military analyst, the MiG-21FLs had clearly “won” the much-anticipated air combat between the MiG-21FL and the F-104A.

In the eastern sector, the MiG-21 played a crucial role for the IAF, earning the moniker “runway buster” for its ground attack capabilities. Repeat attacks on December 6 and 7, 1971, successfully cratered the runways at Tejgaon and Kurmitola near Dhaka, effectively grounding the PAF in the eastern sector. On December 14, 1971, four MiG-21s from the Tezpur airbase led by Wg Cdr Bishnoi (VrC & Bar) attacked the Governor’s House in Dhaka, paving the way for the surrender of Pakistani forces.

Because of the performance of India’s MiG-21s, several nations, including Iraq, approached India for MiG-21 pilot training. By the end of the 1970s, more than 120 Iraqi pilots were being trained by the IAF. On 10 August 1999, two MiG-21Bis of the IAF intercepted and shot down a Pakistan Naval Air Arm Atlantic maritime patrol aircraft with an R-60 missile after it entered Indian airspace for surveillance.

However, the plane had been plagued by safety issues. Since 1970, more than 170 Indian pilots and 40 civilians have been killed in MiG-21 accidents. The aircraft engine operates very close to its surge line in some regimes, and the ingestion of even a small bird can lead to an engine surge, seizure, or flameout. On 11 December 2013, the MiG-21FL was decommissioned after being in service for 50 years.

A Farewell Salute

The MiG-21 has been called the AK-47 of airplanes. “Rock-solid airframe,” noted a former MiG-21 ground technician. “Really, the thing only needs to be topped off with fluids, and it just goes and goes.” When the US Air Force operated MiG-21s as adversary aircraft combat trainers, they found them to be, in the words of one crew chief, “Just like your family car. As long as it’s full of fuel, you pull it out of the garage and start it up.” “With a set of home socket wrenches and screwdrivers, you could get a lot of maintenance done on the little jet,” said another crew chief. Even more important is the fact that a MiG-21bis can be had for $500,000. A second-hand F-16C can cost a small country $15 million.

As Air Chief Marshal Tipnis wrote a few years back, “The beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. The IAF, given its professional adaptability and ingenuity, so masterfully handled this great machine, albeit accepting (Hobson’s choice) some of its limitations.” At one point, the IAF had nearly 20 MiG-21 squadrons. For a long time, the fleet most masterfully shouldered the responsibility for Stage III fighter pilot training of the IAF.

Air Chief Tipnis further put it most succinctly: “The MiG-21 has taken hundreds of pilots onto her lap, taught them, challenged their skills, done their bidding, executed their tasks, brought them indescribable joys, carried them through their occasional crassness and, alas, sometimes inevitably succumbed to her own frailty, or to her master’s ineptness. How many of the privileged few, who have tasted the ecstasy of the blue yonder with this trusted mate, have felt they had their Maker’s final call, but had it adjourned to another day through the blessed stubbornness of our beloved lady to protect her own?”

The MiG-21 safety record is certainly not enviable. IAF military combat training put high demands on pilots’ skills and aircraft performance. The aircraft did put continuous high demands on skills, alertness, mental resilience, and steadiness of nerve. Sometimes, under critical conditions, it overtaxed a pilot’s reserves in some of these essentials; even a transitory lapse could prove disastrous.

There still are around 44 privately owned MiG-21s in the US. Draken International acquired 30 MiG-21bis/UMs, mostly ex-Polish, and was last known to still be operating them.

Robert Farley wrote in the National Interest portal that a few designs stand the test of time. The B-52 Stratofortress first flew in 1952 and is expected to cross a century in service. New C-130s continue to roll off the production line, based on a design that became operational in 1954. But those are bombers and transport aircraft; they don’t fight one another. Fighters face a special problem of longevity, because they must compete directly with newer models. Thus, very few fighters have had long lifespans, either in production or in service. The MiG-21 was an exception. It could exceed Mach 2.0, with an internal cannon and the capacity to carry between two and six missiles. Like most fighters, the MiG-21 would eventually serve in a ground attack role, in which it could carry a limited number of bombs and rockets.

Most modern fighters don’t fly much faster than the MiG-21 or manoeuvre much more capably. While they do carry more ordnance and have more sophisticated electronic equipment, many air forces can treat these as luxuries, as they simply want a cheap, fast, easy-to-maintain aircraft that can patrol airspace and occasionally drop a few bombs. The MiG-21 fitted the bill. It remains one of the iconic fighters of the supersonic age.

Several pilots attained ace status (five or more aerial victories) while flying the MiG-21. Nguyen Van Coc of the Vietnam People’s Air Force, who scored nine kills in MiG-21s, is regarded as the most successful MiG-21 pilot of all time. Twelve other VPAF pilots were credited with five or more aerial victories while flying the MiG-21. Additionally, three Syrian pilots are known to have attained ace status while flying the MiG-21.

The record for the highest number of sorties on a MiG-21 belongs to IAF’s Air Commodore Surendra Singh Tyagi (Retd), with over 6,000 sorties. He also holds the world record for the most flying hours on the aircraft, with 4,003 hours. His extensive experience with the MiG-21 is recognised by the Russians. As the great era closes to its end, some ancient MiGs may still be flying in the hands of warbird enthusiasts long after the last B-52 shuts down forever.

Notwithstanding the criticism enveloping the extended life of the various variants of the MiG-21 and its growing vulnerability to technical defects and crashes in an era of social media scrutiny, the IAF squeezed the last bit of operational juice and now has rightly decided to retire the ‘evergreen’ aeroplane that has been piloted by four generations of fighter pilots in the IAF. Adieu, the “Silver Beauty”.

The writer is former Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.