Thread by @Tanmaycoolkarni

𝐈𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐆-𝟐𝟏 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧?

The crash of the Indian Air Force’s MiG-21 Bison fighter jet has once again aroused furious reactions from netizens and called the government for retiring the Soviet-era jets.

There is a growing outcry for replacing the MiG-21 jets, which have been the backbone of the Indian Air Force. The Indian Air Force force has operated about 872 MiG-21 fighters since the time they were first inducted in the 1960s.

since its induction into the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1963, as many as 400 MiG-21s had been involved in accidents leading to the death of 171 pilots, 39 civilians and eight personnel from other services...

India’s indigenous platform Tejas, which was supposed the replace the Russian jets as IAF’s mainstay combat aircraft, took decades in development, forcing the government to continue to operate the MiG-21 aircraft.

Many people think current Mig-21 of IAF are useless old machine. But actually it's opposite.The current batch of MIG21s,which are upgraded to 'Bison' standard,have been inducted in early 1980s only... In other words,they're as old as Mirage 2000s and MIG 29s in IAF inventory...

Originally Mig-21 is a 2nd generation fighter plane but after “Bison” upgrade, these become 3.5 generation fighter planes. New Digital cockpit with latest navigation system along with GPS navigation and multifunctional Digital display systems..

New pulse dropller radar named as Kopyo, which is smaller version of Mig-29’s radar. This radar can track 8 targets and engage with 2 of them.BVR missile R-77, which has range of 80km...

Auto pilot along with new digital flight control system,which make upgradesd Mig-21 easy to fly. For self protection, upgraded Mig-21, is equipped with DRDO’s developed Tarang radar warning and receiver system. Isreali Elta-8222 self protection electronic warfare system.

People should not wonder, why and how Indian Mig-21 has shoot down Pakistani F-16 after Balakote Attack. Because these are not 1960s Mig-21 but these are Mig-21 of 2000s.

Mig-21 Bison's will be retired in 2025 after finishing their airframe life of 40 years…India will need better aircrafts and in quantity to offset the improving Chinese military...

The IAF has to deal with a falling number of squadrons. They ideally would like 42 combat squadrons to deal with a two front contingency against China and Pakistan, but currently they are at the 32/34 squadron range, per various open sources.

HAL is neither slow nor producing inferior jets as media often portrays them… And Tejas is not inferior product in anyway… Yes, there are issues with HAL, but it is not as bad as media portrays them…

In the next three years India will be bringing in at least 48 Tejas fighters if HAL can up its production rate to 16 per year, and plus up purchases of Rafales,MiG-29’s, and SU-30’s cannot be ruled out,

India is also in the market for 114 additional fighters for the IAF and 26 carrier capable fighters for the Indian Navy, and it is buying lots of drones capable of UCAV missions from the US and Israel. These will add greatly to the punch of the IAF.

But, as we can see due to a lot of accidents n misshappen in previous years, this old beauty will get retire till 2025. It’s really very painful by seeing this bird decommissioning soon, But this BISON will be in the history of IAF for it’s immense n amazing contribution.

@ShivAroor @Chopsyturvey @Kuntal__biswas @5thSu @hvtiaf_ @ReviewVayu @lca_tejas_ @FrontalForce @himanshu_rokde
@alpha_defense @Ninja998998
@VinodDX9 @Defence_XP @Kunal_Biswas707 @mjavinod @AlfaMikes_View @defencealerts @DefenceDecode @Defence_Squad_ @geopolitics24x7