Thursday, 11 Sep, 2025
In 2021 alone, five MiG-21s crashed in India resulting in the deaths of three pilots
The crash has once again led to questions on safety that have dogged the Soviet-era aircraft for decades now. In 2021 alone, five MiG-21s crashed in India resulting in the deaths of three pilots. Accidents such as these have led to the aircraft’s safety record being called into question on a number of occasions in the past few decades. They have also led to the MiG-21s, which were inducted way back in 1963 being dubbed the ‘flying coffin’ or the ‘widow maker’. According to the database of Bharat-Rakshak.com, an aviation website that works closely with the IAF, in the past 51 years, out of 872 MiG-21s inducted progressively, over 400 MiG-21s have crashed and killed more than 200 pilots and almost 50 civilians on the ground.
In the last five years, there have been 57 aviation accidents involving all arms of the military — IAF, Navy, Army and Coast Guard in which 46 IAF personnel (27 were service personnel, 12 were pilots, and seven were crew members) were killed. Of these, 11 involved the MiG-21s. This includes the one flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and was shot down by Pakistan in 2019. In December 2021, a Mi-17V5 helicopter had crashed in Coonoor in which Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, his wife, and 11 other persons were killed.
Data presented by the defense ministry in the parliament also shows there has been no significant fall in incidents of crashes involving Indian Air Force aircraft during this period. There have been more than 10 incidents every alternate year in the five years from 2014-15 to 2018-19. Most of these crashes involved fighter aircraft, followed by trainer aircraft.
The MiGs which holds the record of being the most produced supersonic jet in aviation history were supposed to retire by mid-1990s. But the huge delays in induction of new fighters, especially the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) has meant the IAF still operates the upgraded versions of these "flying coffins".
IAF will induct different variants of Tejas LCA in the coming years to replace the ageing aircraft. The defence ministry in 2021 awarded an Rs 48,000-crore contract to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for 83 LCA Mk-1A jets for IAF. The first Mk-1A aircraft will be delivered to the Air Force in three years, with the rest being supplied by 2030. The deal involves the supply of 73 Mk-1A fighter jets and 10 LCA Mk-1 trainer aircraft. Apart from these, 36 Rafale fighter planes have been inducted recently with IAF keeping the option of buying more open.
As of now, the Indian Air Force has 32 squadrons against the 42 mandated by the government to tackle a collusive threat from China and Pakistan. The number could go down to 28 squadrons by 2024-25 when all the MiG-21s are phased out.
