IAF Set To Retire Mig-21 Aircraft After 6 Decades Of Service; Decommissioning Ceremony Planned At Chandigarh Airbase In September: Report

New Delhi: After over 60 years of service, the MiG-21 fighter will reportedly retire from the Indian Air Force (IAF) in September this year. The last batch of the Mig-21 fighter jet, belonging to the 23 Squadron, will be decommissioned on September 19, reported The Economic Times.

The decommissioning ceremony will be held at the Chandigarh airbase. Notably, the 23 Squadron is also known as the Panthers. The IAF will reportedly replace Mig-21s with indigenously-built Tejas Mk1A jets.

After over 60 years of service, the MiG-21 fighter will reportedly retire from the Indian Air Force (IAF) in September this year. The last batch of the Mig-21 fighter jet, belonging to the 23 Squadron, will be decommissioned on September 19, reported The Economic Times. The decommissioning ceremony will be held at the Chandigarh airbase.

These aircraft are the first supersonic jets acquired by India. These jets played a significant role in India's defences in the 1960s and 70s. Later, they were being called the 'Flying Coffin' due to rising incidents of crashes.

After Mig-21s retirement from the IAF, the strength of fighter squadrons of the force will reportedly drop to 29. As per the report by The Economic Times, even during the 1965 war, the IAF had 32 fighter jet squadrons.

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 is a Russian-Origin jet is a supersonic fighter jet. It was acquired by the IAF in 1963 and was inducted into the force in 1964.