Air Chief Marshal AP Singh led the final flight of 6 MiG-21 at Chandigarh Air Force Station on 26 September. After completing its last flight with the Indian Air Force, the landed MiG-21 aircraft were bid farewell to water canon and with this, an era for the Indian Air Force came to an end. The last two squadrons of these interceptors aircraft with Soviet designed (every squadron have 18 aircraft) were retired from the Indian Air Force. During this time, the old memories of hundreds of Veteran pilots on Chandigarh airbase were fresh.
In the 1990s, 60 percent of the aircraft of the Indian Air Force combat fleet were MiG-21 with Soviet design. The Indian Air Force has blown over 1,200 MiG-21 and 800 of them were constructed in India itself. This is more than any other aircraft in the history of the Indian Air Force. India bought MiG-21 from the Soviet Union led by Nikita Khrushchev in 1961 to maintain a balance in the air power domain on its western border. West supporters Pakistan began buying the US-made F-104 starfighter, which was a supersonic aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles. These were two such abilities (supersonic aircraft and air to air missiles) which were lacking in the Indian Air Force at that time.
Indian Air Force first met MiG-21 in 1963
India also tried to buy F-104 aircraft from America, but this deal could not be done. The arrival of MiG-21 in 1963 provided the necessary air power balance to the Indian Air Force on the western borders of the country. The Indian Air Force landed on the Chandigarh airbase 62 years ago, the first 13 MiG-21 aircraft from the then Soviet Union. These MiG aircraft arrived a few months after the then political-monetary leadership of the time that the Indian Air Force fighter aircraft were kept out of the war with China. The MiG-21 was limited to the 1965 war with Pakistan, but during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the Indian Air Force MIG-21fls defeated the enemy’s US-made F-104 aircraft and killed four of them.
MiG aircraft had dust on F-104 in 1965 war
After a crushing defeat in the war with India, the Pakistani Air Force quietly retired its F-104 starfighters after just 11 years of service. In the 1970s and 80s, India acquired more versions of MIG aircraft under the strategic cooperation of the India-Soviyat Union-including MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27 and MiG-29. The series continued even when the Soviet-made assembly line in Nashik, 200 km from Mumbai, started making other versions of these magnificent single-engine fighter jets. Now after the retirement of MiG-21, once again the squadron number of the Indian Air Force has been reduced to only 29 squadrons from the sanctioned 42 squadron.
The shortest of fighter aircraft near IAF after 1962
It is the smallest fleet of Indian Air Force fighters since the 1962 war with China. The major reason behind this is the delay in the supply of light fighter aircraft (LCA) Tejas, which is indigenously designed and manufactured and which was to replace the MiG-21. Out of 180 LCA-Tejas aircraft ordered from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), 83 contracts were signed in 2021 and another 97 in 2025. The first LCA-MK1A was to meet the Indian Air Force in March 2024, but not a single aircraft has been able to HAL till September 2025. This delay is the result of a slow supply of GE-404 jet engines from the US and its internal problems of HAL.
HAL promised to give 16 LCA-MK1A aircraft every year
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has promised to supply 16 LCA-MK1A (about one squadron) aircraft per year from its two production facility in Bengaluru. It remains to be seen whether these promises are fulfilled. Here the original fighter jet production line of Nashik becomes important again. It made 800 MiG-21 and 165 MiG-27 (MiG-27 in 2019 retired in 2019) by 1988. Currently Nashik is producing the last 12 SU-30mki aircraft and has so far made a total of 232 su-30mki. After this, this production facility was going to produce 5th generation SU-57 aircraft. India gave Russia around $ 300 million for joint production of this aircraft, but in 2018, due to differences, the deal withdrew.
Donald Trump offered F-35 aircraft to India
Most Western Defense Analysts do not consider SU-57 to be a 5th-generation fighter aircraft of F-22 or F-35 tag. The aircraft has come into service for a limited time in the Russian Air Force and has been used very rarely during the Russia-Ukraine War. But, like the time of cold war, India’s options are limited once again. India’s own 5th generation fighter Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) will come under service after a decade. In February this year, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to America, President Trump offered India a F-35 fighter aircraft. There is no conversation between the two sides on this billions of dollars defense deal. Due to the stressful ties with the Trump administration and the ongoing trade war, at least in the near future, there is no possibility of any progress for this extremely expensive American stealth fighter aircraft.
Indian Air Force wants to buy and 114 Rafale aircraft
The Indian Air Force did most of the action in the 3 -day war with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. The Indian Air Force is working on a three-dimensional strategy to increase its number of squadron rapidly in the next decade. In addition to LCA Tejas (and Tejas Mark 2), she wants to import 114 French Rafale and about 63 SU-57. Rafael will be constructed in an absolutely new production line to be established in the country. The Russian side has stated that Nashik Facility SU-57 can be constructed rapidly. In such a situation, the aircraft product of Nashik installed in the Soviet era will once again be active for the manufacture of Russian origin aircraft.
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