The node first landing is what they were designed to do! /sarc
Posted on 02/04/2011 3:24:01 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
A Soviet-era MiG-21 of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Madhya Pradesh Friday but there were no casualties as the pilot ejected safely, an official said. The incident occurred at around 11.20 a.m. at Anup Nagar, 150 km southwest of this Madhya Pradesh town, an IAF spokesperson.
"The pilot ejected safely and was picked up the IAF," he said. The crash comes after the Indian Army Wednesday lost two of its experienced pilots when their helicopter crashed into a residential area in Maharashtra's Nashik city.
In the last three years, a total of 60 aircraft, including MiG-21 and helicopters, have crashed, killing 43 personnel of the Indian armed forces and five civilians. The IAF is in the process of replacing its ageing MiG-21s that have earned the sobriquet "flying coffins" due to the high rate of air crashes in the late 1990s and the early years of this century.
(Excerpt) Read more at india-defence.com ...
MiG-21 Lawn Dart
This may be why they just bought some C-130s from us!
The Mig-21 was a helluva fighter in it’s day. But that day was forty years ago.
Yea. It was small and agile compared to the er... A-7, F-8 and the F-4.
But it had short legs, its AA missiles were crappy and they were built for day ops. I bet a lot of Vietnam era pilots were very happy about those shortcomings.
Initial deployment with Soviet AF was fifty-two years ago (1959).
And yep, we’re gettin’ old.
Wow I think about a 59 Chevy and where it was on today’s technology scale.
Isn’t India replaceing its Mig-21s with the LCA program? Mig-21s are outdated death traps. Their only real use are as drone for target practice. Scratch that. The frame would work for a Unmanned Combat AV against China or Pakistan. I believe that China has experimented with this.
Even if the IAF doesn’t want continue operating the Mig-21, there are practical issues with replacing 150-180 of your main fighters when you don’t have ready replacements (the LCA and MMRCA). Add to it, the IAF is already facing depleting force levels.
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