Chandigarh, 26 Sept

The legendary MiG-21 fighter jets, the backbone of the Indian Air Force (IAF) for more than six decades, flew through Indian skies for the last time on Friday, bringing down the curtain on a historic era.

Under clear blue skies, the Russian-origin warhorse was given a ceremonial farewell at Chandigarh, where it was first inducted in the 1960s.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the MiG-21 as a “mighty machine” and “national pride”, adding that India shares a deep emotional attachment to it. “The MiG-21 is not only an aircraft or machine but also proof of deep India-Russia ties,” Singh said.

He recalled its contribution in the 1971 war with Pakistan, the 1999 Kargil conflict and the 2019 Balakot air strikes. More than 11,500 MiG-21 aircraft were built globally, with 870 inducted into the IAF. “This number is a testimony to the aircraft’s popularity, credibility and multi-dimensional capability,” Singh said.

Former IAF chiefs AY Tipnis, SP Tyagi and BS Dhanoa, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and many veterans attended the event. Air Chief Marshal AP Singh flew a MiG-21 Bison sortie with the call sign ‘Badal 3’, a tribute to the first MiG-21 squadron raised here in 1963 under then IAF chief Dilbagh Singh.

The ceremony featured a majestic flypast, water cannon salute and aerial salute, with MiG-21s flying in the Badal and Panther formations for the final time. The Surya Kiran aerobatic team and skydivers from the ‘Akash Ganga’ squad also enthralled the audience. Jaguars and the indigenously developed Tejas fighter jets joined the farewell.

The MiG-21 was India’s first supersonic fighter and interceptor aircraft, remembered for its speed, agility and combat record. It gave the IAF a technological edge during its induction and played a decisive role in India’s air campaigns.

However, the aircraft also carried a troubled safety record. Over the years, multiple crashes claimed the lives of several pilots, prompting critics to dub it a “flying coffin”.

The last operational flights of the MiG-21s took place at the Nal Air Force Station in Rajasthan’s Bikaner last month, ahead of the formal decommissioning. Air Chief Marshal Singh had also flown solo sorties from Nal in August as a symbolic farewell.

With the de-induction of the MiG-21, the IAF now looks to modern platforms such as Tejas to bolster its combat fleet.

The day’s farewell marked not just the retirement of a machine, but the closure of a historic chapter in India’s air power.