The Indian Air Force is set to retire Russian-made MiG-21 Bison fighter jets by September, marking an end of an era for one of its longest-serving aircraft.
About Mig-21:
It is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft.
It was designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau (OKB) of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
First inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1963, the MiG-21 is India's first-ever supersonic jet.
India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) built 657 MiG-21s under a license that was granted by Russia.
It is the second most produced jet aircraft in the world.
Its NATO reporting name is ‘Fishbed’. Other nicknames include ‘Balalaika’ because its planform resembles the stringed musical instrument of the same name; ‘Ołówek’ (Polish for ‘pencil’), due to the shape of its fuselage; and ‘Én Bạc’, meaning ‘silver swallow’ in Vietnamese.
The MiG-21 has seen more conflicts than any other fighter in history.
The MiG-21 participated innearly every war or conflict India has faced since 1963, the 1965 and 1971 India-Pakistan wars, the 1999 Kargil War, the Balakot airstrikes in 2019, and most recently, Operation Sindoor.
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