The Story of “The Flying Coffin”

History

·??????The?Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG-21)?with NATO reporting name -?Fishbed) is a?supersonic?jet?fighter?and?interceptor aircraft, designed by the?Mikoyan-Gurevich?Design Bureau?in the?Soviet Union.?The MiG-21 jet fighter was a continuation of Soviet jet fighters, starting with the subsonic?MiG-15?and?MiG-17, and the supersonic?MiG-19. The aircraft undertook its maiden flight on 16 Jun 1955 prior its introduction in 1959. A total of 11,496 aircraft were manufactured from 1959-1985.

·??????India?is the largest operator of the MiG 21 and was first bought by the Indian Air Force (IAF) with complete Transfer of Technology (ToT) from erstwhile Soviet Union. Though the MiG 21 aircraft played a limited role in the Indo-Pak war of 1965 due to limited induction and lack of pilot training,?the MiG-21s played a crucial role in giving the IAF air superiority over vital points and areas in the western theatre of the conflict in 1971 war. Several nations, including?Iraq,?approached India for MiG-21 pilot training. By the early 1970s, more than 120 Iraqi pilots were being trained by the Indian Air Force. MiG 21s have also been deployed in the wars over the Middle East, essentially the famous?Six Day War?(05-10 Jun 1967)?between Israel and Egypt and again during the?Yom Kippur War (06 Oct – 25 Oct 1973). I will be elaborating on the events leading up to these wars and the middle east crisis in later articles. These wars have proved to be one of the most strategically fought wars and have shaped the military strategy in an unprecedented way.

·??????The aircraft flown by?Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman?which was shot down by a Pakistani Airforce F-16 in an aerial dogfight that ensued after intrusion into the Indian Territtory was also a MiG 21 Bison.

·??????The jets are well beyond their retirement age and frequent accidents and the ensuing loss of lives has led to the christening of the MiGs as “The Flying Coffins” or “The Widow Maker”.

Chronology of Crashes

·??????It is said chronology of recurring events is the first step towards an in-depth analysis of the event. Therefore, I conducted a literature survey on when and how many MiG 21s have crashed.

·??????By 2013, a large number of MiG-21 aircraft of the IAF were involved in accidents leading to the death of 171 pilots since the induction of the Soviet-origin aircraft into the IAF in 1963. The total number of accidents is far more, however, fatal accidents are as tabulated below:-

·??????It is evident from the above table that barring 1971 and 1999 which were years of the war with Pakistan which resulted in crash of 11 and 16 jets, rest all of the crashes have been during the peace time or one might say routine training sorties.

Variants In India

·??????The?production of the MiG-21s in India under license by?Hindustan Aeronautics?in Nasik started with the MiG-21FL in 1966. 05 MiG-21FLs, designated?Type 77?and nicknamed?Trishul?("Trident), were built in India between 1966 and 1972; the first one built entirely from Indian-made components was delivered to the IAF on 19 October 1970.?

·??????In 1971 HAL production was switched to an improved version of the MiG-21M (izdeliye?96), which was designated?Type 88?by HAL. The first Type 88 MiG-21M was delivered to the IAF on 14 February 1973 and the last on 12 November 1981, with a total of 158 built. The last variant to be produced by HAL was the MiG-21bis. A total of 75 were built in 1977 and a further 220 were built from scratch by 1984.?

·??????Despite a series of crashes, the?Indian Air Force?decided to upgrade about 125 of the MiG-21bis in its inventory to the MiG-21UPG standard which can serve until 2025. The original MIG-21 FL (MIG-21 PF or Type 77) was retired in December 2013 and remaining MIG-21M aircraft (Type 88) are also being phased out.

Likely Issues

·??????Technological Obsolescence.?????There is no denying the fact that the MiG 21 has already completed its service life. The aircraft is achaic by the virtue of being manufactured in 1959. Despite the numerous upgradations undertaken by HAL, it still does not justify the policy to operate such an old aircraft which has a 60 year old manufacturing technology.

·??????Spare Support.?????The availability of spares has been a prime concern for the country and can be pitted to be one of the main reasons for high crash rate of the aircraft. India has been looking for cheaper options in countries like Israel and Ukraine, despite a warning from the Defence Authorities in Moscow to refrain from buying anything other than authentic spare parts. The Russian Ambassador, in New Delhi, Alexander Kadakin’s warning that more aircraft may meet with accidents if the country continues to use spare parts from outside Russia also fell on deaf ears.

·??????Training.?????The sudden upgrade for junior pilots from trainer aircraft like the indigenous jet trainer Kiran built in 1964 by HAL to MiG 21 may also be seen as one of the reasons pilots are unable to handle the MiG well. The Kiran, which was a subsonic jet has a maximum speed of 201 mph while MiG has a maximum speed of 1468 mph.?

·??????Slow Upgradation of IAF.?????The excruciating slow pace of upgradation of the IAF due to incumbent long and lethargic procurement processes and irregularities in the process of contract management has also deeply dented the IAF. The delays in fructification of India’s Indigenous Defence Programmes such as the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA),?Tejas?which began in the 1980s?and is slated to replace the MiG-21 fleet has also taken a considerable toll on the IAF.?

Way Ahead

·??????The latest crash that occurred on 24 Dec 21 in the Desert National Park Area in Jaisalmer led to the martyrdom of Wg Cdr Harshit Sinha. Another life lost, another soldier in the coffin, another wife widowed. This begs me to ask the Govt that can the price of a human life, a father, a son, a husband be weighed against paper money. We are a highly polarized political nation where the opposition has only one job to do – “Oppose everything and propose nothing”, and hence, the delays, the cutting of corners and spending frugally on something which has a life riding on it. Cannot we come together as a nation, as human beings and work hand in hand to strengthen our defence forces. The defence forces are not polarized. We did not take the oath to protect only the Govt in power, we have a duty towards the security of the nation.?

·??????It is really time when our decision makers and bureaucrats sat together, put aside their differences and did something which is good for the forces, that empowers us to be the best in the world. We need our design and development agencies to work hand in hand with the PSUs to accelerate the upgradation process and for once induct a technology in the forces before it gets obsolete.

·??????We need to revisit our policies for induction of Fighter Aircraft in the forces. Inlcusion of an assured Comprehensive Annual Maintenance Contract (CAMC) or procurement with complete life cycle support with spares and mid-life upgradation after mandated service life will ensure spare support and dovetailed procurement related issues like time lag for induction, QA checks and storage of spares.

·??????Why not look at privatization of the armed forces for technological induction and manufacturing. The inherent delays in in government procedures and delays in design and development, manufacturing and induction can be avoided. We have numerous private firms which are waiting for an opportunity to prove their mettle. Though there are fewer players in the market for fighter aircraft but assured lifetime support contracts amalgamated in the procurement contracts may compel commercial players like Boeing to venture into the Indian Defence as a probable buyer.

·??????We have learnt enough from previous aircraft accidents, irreparable human losses and exponential cost involved in contractual delays. It is high time we make substantial course corrections and employ mitigation measures to avoid such unfortunate incidents for posterity.