Indian Air Force to retire MiG-23 fighter jets

[Salahadin]

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will on Friday bid adieu to its MiG-23 ‘swing wing’ ground attack fighter jets after nearly 30 years of service, Hindustan Times reported.

The newspaper said the MiG-23 BN aircraft, which had been bought from the erstwhile Soviet Union to counter Pakistan’s then newly-acquired F-16 jets, would take to the sky for its last sortie from the Halwara airbase in Punjab on Friday. “The jets, renamed in the IAF as Vijay (victory), were designed to replace the ageing fleet of MiG-21. They were once known as formidable, supersonic combat jets and it is going to be a nostalgic moment for us,” a senior IAF official said on Thursday.

The single-seater aircraft, which had also been used in the Kargil War, was inducted in 1981 to meet the IAF’s requirement of a tactical airstrike aircraft. It has operated from Leh, the highest airfield in India and was also the first fighter aircraft to operate from the high altitude airfield Thoise in Jammu and Kashmir. With a dubious safety record and besotted with engine troubles, the aircraft’s phase-out came because of burgeoning maintenance costs and problems relating to non-availability of spare parts.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Gabbar]

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will on Friday bid adieu to its MiG-23 ‘swing wing’ ground attack fighter jets after nearly 30 years of service, Hindustan Times reported.

The newspaper said the MiG-23 BN aircraft, which had been bought from the erstwhile Soviet Union to counter Pakistan’s then newly-acquired F-16 jets, would take to the sky for its last sortie from the Halwara airbase in Punjab on Friday. “The jets, renamed in the IAF as Vijay (victory), were designed to replace the ageing fleet of MiG-21. They were once known as formidable, supersonic combat jets and it is going to be a nostalgic moment for us,” a senior IAF official said on Thursday.

The single-seater aircraft, which had also been used in the Kargil War, was inducted in 1981 to meet the IAF’s requirement of a tactical airstrike aircraft. It has operated from Leh, the highest airfield in India and was also the first fighter aircraft to operate from the high altitude airfield Thoise in Jammu and Kashmir. With a dubious safety record and besotted with engine troubles, the aircraft’s phase-out came because of burgeoning maintenance costs and problems relating to non-availability of spare parts.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

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