New Delhi –The Indian Defence Minister AK Anthony has indicated that the majority of the MiG fighter aircraft in the Armed Forces will be phased out by 2017 and will be replaced by modern fighter aircraft. AK Anthony added that the phasing out will begin by 2014.
At a Parliamentary session in New Delhi, the Defence Minister assured that advanced aircraft like Su-30 MKI, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) will be the new replacement for the ageing fleet of MiGs in the country. Even the Indian Air Force (IAF) has formulated a focused plan to phase out the obsolescent aircraft that has been causing fatal mishaps.
As per the Defence Ministry, there will be a major level of fighter aircraft procurements in the coming years which will dynamically improve the flight safety of the pilots as well as compliment the decisive edge and lethality of air power in the IAF and other forces. At present, the IAF maintains a mix of old and new aircraft in its fleet and each plane has a life span of 30 to 40 years.
Once the work horse of the Indian Air force constituting over 70 per cent of the combat fleet of our country, the vintage MiG fighter plane have been overworked due to their presence in the fleet since the 1960s. The MiG aircraft has been criticised for years due to poor maintenance and various design and performance malfunctions. The high rate of crashes a decade back led to the MiG-21s being dubbed as ‘flying coffins’. Nearly half of the MiG-21 with India has been lost in accidents, which is roughly a loss of over 350 aircraft. In last three years, IAF has recorded 40 crashes which mostly involve the obsolescent MiG fighters with Indian Air Force.
According to the IAF, the phasing out of obsolescent MiGs can only happen if the acquisitions are faster. The IAF has indicated that they have phased out the oldest type of MiG-21s and only one squadron is left which will out by next year. The IAF MiG-21 fleet includes Type 96, Type 77 and the Bison variants. The Bisons, which have been upgraded, are likely to continue till 2017 depending on the induction of the MMRCA and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’.
The IAF at present has 33 squadrons in its fleet with aircraft ranging from Russian-origin Su-30s, French Mirage-2000, Anglo-French Jaguars, Russian MiG-29s and several ageing MiG variants, such as MiG-21s and MiG-27s in the total of about 600 aircraft. The IAF’s fleet strength is expected to go up to 42 squadrons by 2022. Besides the MMRCA deal and the indigenous LCA ‘Tejas’, India has signed an agreement for joint development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) with the Russians and about 250 to 300 of which are expected to join the force by 2017. The IAF’s fleet strength is expected to go up to 42 squadrons by 2022, but before that it would phase out the MiG-21s and the MiG-27 which constitute a majority of the existing squadron strength.
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