IAF’s MiG-21 fighter jets took to the skies for one last time before being decommissioned today. The MiG-21s were inducted into the Indian Air Force in 1963 and will be decommissioned today after over six decades of service.
VIDEO | Chandigarh: IAF’s MiG-21 fighter jets take to skies for the one last time before being decommissioned.
MiG-21s were inducted into the Indian Air Force in 1963. The fighter jets are being decommissioned today after 63 years of service.#mig21farewell #IAF
(Source:… pic.twitter.com/HxCmUPuEgC
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 26, 2025
The MIG-21 aircraft also flew in formation with indigenous Tejas Aircraft, giving out the message ‘I hand over the glory to the next lineage’.
#WATCH | Chandigarh | MIG-21 aircraft flies in formation with indigenous Tejas Aircraft, giving out the message ‘I hand over the glory to the next lineage’.
MiG-21s were inducted into the Indian Air Force in 1963, and will be decommissioned today after 63 years of service. pic.twitter.com/pXwDmDb5fx
— ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2025
IAF’s Iconic MiG-21 Jets Retire After Over 6 Decades
The decommissioning ceremony of the Indian Air Force’s MIG-21 fighter aircraft fleet is underway at the Chandigarh Air Force Station. The mega event marks the culmination of the services of the Russian-origin MiG-21, belonging to number 23 Squadron, nicknamed “Panthers”.
#WATCH | Chandigarh | The decommissioning ceremony of the Indian Air Force’s MIG-21 fighter aircraft fleet is underway.
MiG-21s were inducted into the Indian Air Force in 1963, and will be decommissioned today after 63 years of service. pic.twitter.com/37SE6MviQf
— ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2025
Air Chief Marshal A P Singh led the occasion by flying the final sortie of the Squadron with the call sign ‘Badal 3’. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with former IAF chiefs S P Tyagi and B S Dhanoa, attended the historic send-off. IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla was also present.
The ceremony featured a dramatic performance by the Air Force’s elite skydiving team, Akash Ganga, who will skydive from 8,000 feet. This was followed by an impressive MiG-21 flypast, an aerial salute, and a precision drill display by air warriors. Pilots flew the aircraft in both the three-jet Badal and four-jet Panther formations, thundering across the skies for the last time.
In a recent post on X, about the retiring Mig-21s, the IAF said, “Six decades of service, countless tales of courage, a warhorse that carried pride of a nation into the skies”.
The MiG-21, once the backbone of the Indian Air Force, entered service in the early 1960s. Over the years, more than 870 of these supersonic fighters were inducted, significantly strengthening India’s air combat capabilities. They were pivotal during the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan, the 1999 Kargil conflict, and even the 2019 Balakot airstrikes.
