Making the best of MIG21

Armand2REP

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Best use now is to stick the flying coffin into the museum. Makes a good conversation piece for the lawn.
 

ahmedsid

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Best use now is to stick the flying coffin into the museum. Makes a good conversation piece for the lawn.
Armand, Yes I believe the Mig 21 is old, But for a few more years, we will need the Bisons. Dont you think you are being harsh, considering the fighters its going to face? Its going to face Pakistani F7s, Mirages and Fantans and all that stuff. Is the Bison so bad that it cant take on these? I just want your opinion on this, as I believe the Bison is good enough to give a fight to these Aircrafts. God Speed
 

Armand2REP

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Armand, Yes I believe the Mig 21 is old, But for a few more years, we will need the Bisons. Dont you think you are being harsh, considering the fighters its going to face? Its going to face Pakistani F7s, Mirages and Fantans and all that stuff. Is the Bison so bad that it cant take on these? I just want your opinion on this, as I believe the Bison is good enough to give a fight to these Aircrafts. God Speed
They are only needed because GoI is too myopic in its procurement policy. If they had sped up MKI production and sought foreign assistance for LCA earlier, it wouldn't be an issue today. It will be facing JF-17s, F-16s, J-10s, J-11s and a whole host of other threats. The availability of aircraft drops every week. They are there mainly to maintain squadron numbers and transition pilots to MKIs. It is not a safe aircraft to operate and lack of trainers will lead to more accidents. It has already killed over 100 of IAF's finest, let it not claim any more.
 

StealthSniper

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Even I agree the Mig-21 should be retired a long time ago. The poor Russian aircraft are just too damn old and the Indian government is way to slow and lazy getting new aircraft inducted for our brave proud pilots. It's a shame our corrupted politicians care more about their pocketbooks more then our skilled brave pilots.
 

Sabir

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Armand, Yes I believe the Mig 21 is old, But for a few more years, we will need the Bisons. Dont you think you are being harsh, considering the fighters its going to face? Its going to face Pakistani F7s, Mirages and Fantans and all that stuff. Is the Bison so bad that it cant take on these? I just want your opinion on this, as I believe the Bison is good enough to give a fight to these Aircrafts. God Speed
F7 and Mirages of PAF are as old a our Migs. But if we have to stay ahead of PAF this fighters need to be changed. The best use seems to donate them to different Museums, and fixing some in front of public eyes in important location.
 

Neil

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i think the migs should stay a little longer in service at least till MMRCA aircraft starts arriving and we have enough MKI in are AF....

agree they are flying coffins and we are losing the best pilots for it but if we retire it now then we might lose are country.....a hard choice indeed...!!
 

shaka

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Actually Mig-21 Bison safety record is pretty good. It will serve till 2020 I believe. Its other Mig 21 versions and Mig 27 which are a worry. But the real worry is that MMRCA will only come in 2014-2015. Till then its MKI (production rate of 20+ per year) and 20 LCAs only I think. These will replace out going Mig21 and Mig 27. But this is no where close to the numbers that are going to be retired, so IAF squadron strength will keep on decreasing for some time. Maybe it will start to increase after 2015, when MMRCA will arrive and LCA production will start hopefully. Then there is FGFA coming 2020 onwards. So IMO its next 6-7 years that India will have to operate Mig21 and Mig27 somehow. Unless we buy second hand UAE or Qatari Ex-Mirage2000s now, which is not a bad deal. But the process has to start right now in order to induct these in 2012 at the earliest.
 

pmaitra

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Yet another MiG crash

The Tribune, Chandigarh, Saturday, May 4, 2002

MiG-21s are called "flying coffins" but on Friday they brought death and destruction on the ground in a thickly populated area of Jalandhar. The pilot reportedly bailed out but a large number of innocent civilians paid with their lives for no fault of their own. The accident puts more question marks on the airworthiness of these ageing aircraft and gave a new urgency to the demand of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament in its 29th Report that they should be immediately phased out. The paradox is that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy, is equally categorical that the MiG variants with the IAF, especially the MiG-21s, are still fully fit to fly. Since Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis had made a similar assertion earlier, one has to discount the "flying coffin" theory. What is incontrovertible is that these planes have been tumbling out of air far too often. According to one estimate, the IAF has lost 100 pilots in 283 accidents during the past nine years and most of them involved MiGs. That is an unacceptably high figure. The nation needs to know the reasons for this scandalous failure. Many experts are of the view that the MiG-21 of the 1960s vintage is not quite the villain of the piece that it is made out to be. In fact, it is indeed safer to fly than the MiG-23/27, although its accident rate is higher than those involving twin-engine fighter aircraft like the Jaguar and MiG-29.

The real problem perhaps lies with inadequate training of pilots. In the absence of a suitable advanced jet trainer, most pilots get their training on subsonic aircraft like Kiran. When they have to suddenly make a qualitative jump to the highly demanding supersonic aircraft flying at Mach 2 speed, they find themselves at sea. The switchover is like a Maruti driver being suddenly put behind the steering wheel of a Ferrari. Similarly, the maintenance and overhaul quality of the aircraft is not what it ought to be. The combination of such factors has cost the IAF dear. The loss of so many planes has depleted its strength and has had a debilitating effect on military balance. More important is the loss of young pilots. What is inexcusable is that despite all this the issue of an AJT has been hanging fire for decades. Even now, Delhi has not made up its mind. The steps that should have been taken yesterday cannot wait for tomorrow. India just cannot cope with recurring MiG tragedies.

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020504/edit.htm#1
 

ajtr

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turn it into UCAV.....................................
 

pankaj nema

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The most irritating thing to me is that soon India will have a 2 trillion economy and yet we will use Mig 21 for next 10 years

We need numbers for a two front war .So though both Mig 21 bison and Mig 27 even after upgradation , have limited abilities ,yet they will be around till 2020.

The HAwk trainer if we had bought earlier could have prevented a few crashes .
 

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