22-07-2025
IAF to phase out MiG-21 fighter jets in September 2025
The Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets are set to be phased out of service in September this year, as per the Indian Air Force plan to replace the remaining squadrons with the indigenously developed Tejas Mark-1A aircraft.
In October 2023, the jets participated for the last time in the annual Air Force Day parade. A timeline had been finalised to phase out the Mig-21s then.
At a press conference around the same time, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhary had said a contract to procure 97 Tejas Mark-1A aircraft at a cost of around Rs 1.15 lakh crore will be concluded soon. This was in addition to the Rs 48,000-crore deal signed with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in 2021 to procure 83 such jets.
'We will replace the MiG-21 squadrons with the LCA Mark-1A…. The induction of the LCA Mark-1A will fill the gap of the outgoing MiG-21s,' he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The MiG-21s were the mainstay of the IAF for a long time since its induction in the early 1960s. The IAF had procured more than 870 MiG-21 fighters to boost its overall combat prowess.
