What's Wrong With MiG-21s?
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2023-05-21 08:25:14
About the Author
The Indian Air Force has grounded its entire remaining fleet of MiG-21 combat aircrafts following a crash on May 8 in Rajasthan in which three civilians had died. The fighter pilot had, however, ejected to safety and escaped with minor injuries. This was the latest in a series of accidents that the aircrafts have met which has led to them being termed as 'flying coffin'. India had purchased 870 MiG-21s in the 1960s and just 60 remain. Even these have outlived their utility. The Air Force is replacing them gradually and they are expected to be completely phased out by 2025.
The decision to ground the entire fleet was taken in view of the three major crashes that occurred in the last three years. In July 2022, a Mig-21 trainer fighter jet crashed in Rajasthan killing the two pilots Wing Commander M Rana and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal. Before that, in December 2021, Wing Commander Harshit Sinha lost his life after the Mig-21 he was piloting crashed due to a technical snag in Jaisalmer during a training sortie.
The loss of brave and trained officers is especially heartbreaking. The Air Force is looking to replace these aircrafts with the 83 Tejas jets that it has ordered from HAL. The current grounding of MiG-21s is to ascertain the reason behind the latest crash. The investigation must be thorough and must also take a fresh look at the earlier crashes involving the aircraft. If they have a problem, which seems to be the case as there have been hundreds of major and minor accidents involving the jets over the years, it is better to ground them permanently with immediate effect.
