There is no gainsaying that any life lost is one too many. But attempts to ascribe causation often oversimplifies the issue. The argument that IAF is responsible for not hastening the induction of the LCA and is thus responsible for fatal accidents on the MiG-21 misses the wood for the trees.
IAF’s backbone to “Flying Coffin”
IAF’s tryst with the MiG-21 began in 1963 when the Type-74 was inducted in limited numbers. Over the next six decades, subsequent versions bought or modified have included the Type-76, Type-77, Type-96, Type-75 (Bis) and the latest Bison. Apart from these, IAF had to shop across the Eastern Bloc for MiG-21 Trainers, in all a whopping 900 odd aircraft. For a major part of the last six decades, the largely-HAL manufactured MiG-21 formed the backbone of IAF, and made a mark in the 1971 war even as other newer aircraft gradually began complementing the fleet.
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Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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