*NEW DELHI: India will ground all its Soviet-era Russian fighter jets, theMiG-21, by 2025, following the death of two officers in a crash, the latestin a series of casualties involving the single-engine jet’s failure, anewspaper reported on Saturday.*
The Times of India quoted unnamed Indian Air Force officials as saying theMiG-21s have long past their retirement but must be replaced before beinggrounded.
The report did not specify what portion of India’s fighter-jet capabilitywould be affected. The Wion news outlet said the air force has around 70MiG-21s. The air force and defence ministry have been buying aircraft fromWestern makers in recent years.
A senior defence ministry official declined to confirm or deny the Times ofIndia report, telling Reuters only that discussions on the future of theMiG-21 were underway, as sourcing of spare parts from Russia wasincreasingly difficult due to the war in Ukraine.
A defence ministry spokesman did not immediately respond to a messageseeking comment.
The MiG-21, dubbed “flying coffins” by the Indian press, has been thecountry’s key fighter jet since its introduction in 1963 but has beenplagued by crashes in later years.
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The jets have been a critical security asset in India’s militaryinfrastructure, used for example to strike neighbouring rival Pakistanafter an alleged suicide attack in the disputed Kashmir region in 2019.
Thursday’s crash of an air force MiG-21 Bison in the desert state ofRajasthan brings to six the number of MiG-21 crashes since last year, withfive officers killed, according to official data and a source.
In 2012, then-Defence Minister A.K. Antony told parliament that more thanhalf of India’s 872 MiG-21s had been lost to crashes over the previous fourdecades.
