‘Flying coffins’ – India plans to ground MiG-21 jets after deadly crashes

NEW DELHI – India has planned to ground all its Soviet-era Russian fighter jets, the MiG-21, by 2025, a day after two officers were killed in a crash in Rajasthan, it emerged on Saturday.

The fighter jets, which are dubbed as “flying coffins” by Indian media, are being used by the Indian air force despite they have long past their retirement, the Times of India quoted an unnamed official in its report as saying.

The Wion news outlet revealed that around 70 MiG-21 fighter jets are part of the India air force fleet. The air force and defence ministry have been buying aircraft from Western manufacturers in recent years.

Though India has not officially confirmed the plan, the Times of India report said that discussions to decide the future of the Russia-made jets were underway.

The multirole MiG-21 has been the backbone of the Indian air force since it was inducted in 1963 but several ageing aircraft this series met deadly crashes in later years.

At least two pilot of the Indian air force were killed on Thursday when MiG-21 aircraft crashed in northern India, a statement from the IAF said.

Wing Commodore Mohit Rana, and Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal had taken off for training mission from an airbase in Rajasthan before the duo experienced the fatal accident, said the statement.

At 9:10 pm this evening, an IAF MiG 21 trainer aircraft met with an accident in the western sector during a training sortie.
Both pilots sustained fatal injuries.

— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) July 28, 2022

MIG-21 has a poor safety record as the crash was the sixth MiG-21 aircraft to have gone down since January last year, with at least five pilots killed.