{"id":33081,"date":"2025-09-25T11:14:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T11:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jammubulletin.com\/site\/?p=33081"},"modified":"2025-09-25T11:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T11:14:33","slug":"workhorse-mig-21-fighter-jets-to-retire-from-iaf-on-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jammubulletin.com\/site\/workhorse-mig-21-fighter-jets-to-retire-from-iaf-on-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Workhorse MiG-21 fighter jets to retire from IAF on Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHANDIGARH: Six decades after they were inducted into the force, Indian Air Force\u2019s workhorse, the legendary Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets, will finally retire from the IAF at a mega event to be held here on Friday.<\/p>\n

A farewell will be bid to the fighter jets, which have been part of the IAF\u2019s combat fleet since the 1960s, at a decommissioning event in Chandigarh, where the iconic aircraft was first inducted over six decades ago.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, will fly the last sortie of the MiG-21 Bison aircraft.<\/p>\n

Dilbagh Singh, who became the IAF chief in 1981, had led the first MiG-21 Squadron here in 1963.<\/p>\n

The culmination of MiG-21 operations is set for September 26 with a ceremonial flypast and decommissioning event, marking the closure of a historic chapter in India\u2019s air power.<\/p>\n

The last of the MiG-21 jets, belonging to number 23 Squadron nicknamed \u201cPanthers\u201d, will be given a farewell at the decommissioning ceremony at the Chandigarh Air Force station in which chief guest will be Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.<\/p>\n

Upon landing, the six MiG-21 jets, belonging to number 23 Squadron, taking part in the flypast ceremony on Friday, will be given a water cannon salute and among the pilots will be Squadron Leader Priya Sharma, who also flew in the full dress rehearsal on Wednesday, and will leave her name in the annals of aviation history as the last woman fighter pilot to have flown the aircraft one final time.<\/p>\n

In a recent post on X about the retiring MiG-21s, the IAF said, \u201cSix decades of service, countless tales of courage, a warhorse that carried pride of a nation into the skies\u201d.<\/p>\n

The MiG-21 fighter jets used to be the mainstay of the IAF for a long period of time. After its first induction, the IAF procured over 870 MiG-21s to boost its overall combat prowess.<\/p>\n

The supersonic jets were the dominant platforms during 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan. The aircraft also played a key role in the 1999 Kargil conflict as well as 2019 Balakot airstrikes.<\/p>\n

However, the IAF\u2019s workhorse, the MiG-21 aircrafts, were also involved in multiple crashes in the last six decades, with spotlight many times being on the safety record of the ageing fleet of the Soviet-origin aircraft.<\/p>\n

Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh and Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, will be among those present on the occasion here on Friday.<\/p>\n

Further, as per the tentative programme, six former IAF chiefs A Y Tipnis, S Krishnaswamy, S P Tyagi, P V Naik, B S Dhanoa and R K S Bhadauria will also attend the Friday\u2019s ceremony in Chandigarh.<\/p>\n

Officials from the Defence Ministry, Defence Research and Development Organisation and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will also be present.<\/p>\n

A full dress rehearsal for this ceremony was held at the IAF station here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Jaguar and the Tejas aircrafts will also be part of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments. It has been designed to undertake air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike roles.<\/p>\n

The IAF\u2019s MiG-21 fighter jets made their last operational flights at the Nal Air Force Station in Rajasthan\u2019s Bikaner, a month ahead of the formal retirement ceremony slated here on Friday.<\/p>\n

As part of the symbolic farewell, Air Chief Marshal A P Singh flew solo sorties of the MiG-21 from Nal on August 18-19, marking an emotional moment for the force and for generations of pilots trained on the Russian-origin fighter jet that served the force for 62 years.<\/p>\n

\"Workhorse
Workhorse MiG-21 fighter jets to retire from IAF on Friday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHANDIGARH: Six decades after they were inducted into the force, Indian Air Force\u2019s workhorse, the legendary Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets, will finally retire from the IAF at a mega event to be held here on Friday. A farewell will be bid to the fighter jets, which have been part of the IAF\u2019s combat fleet since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-header","category-national"],"gutentor_comment":0,"yoast_head":"\nWorkhorse MiG-21 fighter jets to retire from IAF on Friday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Six decades after they were inducted into the force, Indian Air Force\u2019s workhorse, the legendary Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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