IAF MiG-27 Fighters to Retire in December

Obsolete Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-27 planes will be decommissioned by the end of the current year after making its final flight from Jodhpur Air Base, Rajasthan.

The jets were first introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1975. Following an agreement sealed between Moscow and New Delhi, the planes were shipped tooxc[i] India starting 1984.

State-run HAL started domestic production of the ground attack aircraft a year later, and continued to build the planes until 1996. The IAF is thought to have had over 200 MiG planes in its fleet.

The Air Force’s last remaining squadron of upgraded MiG-27UPGs will make their final sortie in the last week of December. After their retirement, Kazakhstan will be the last country with MiG-27s in its inventory. 

India lost 2 MiG-27 planes in crashes in this year alone- one in February (near Pokhran), another in March (near Jodhpur). In both accidents, pilots ejected safely.