Indian MiG-21 Crashes, Both Pilots Killed

A MiG-21 Bison of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Rajasthan state on Thursday, killing both pilots onboard.

"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," the Air Force said in a statement.

A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident.

Last year, five IAF MiG-21s had crashed. In January, a MiG-21 crashed near Suratgarh in Rajasthan during a training sortie due to a technical malfunction. The pilot managed to eject safely. Two months later, a MiG-21 crashed while taking off in central India, killing the pilot. The third and fourth accidents happened in May and August. MiG-21 pilot was killed in the May crash. The last 2021 accident took place in December in Rajasthan, killing the pilot.

The Bison is the latest variant of MiG-21 in IAF service. The Air Force operates four squadrons of MiG-21s with each of them having 16 to 18 fighter jets. The last of these upgraded jets are set to be phased out in the next three to four years.

The IAF got its first single-engine MiG-21 in 1963, and it progressively inducted over 850 variants of the Soviet-origin supersonic fighters to bolster its combat potential. Of these, more than 60% were licence-produced in India.

During 1980s, IAF introduced the Tejas programme to replace the ageing jets. But due to delays, India decided to extend the Total Technical Life (TTL) of its MiG-21s by upgrading their turbofan engines, radars, avionics, etc.

More than 450 MiG-21s have been involved in accidents that have claimed the lives of more than 150 pilots during the last six decades. This has earned the fighters ominous epithets such as “Flying Coffin” and “Widow Maker."