NEW DELHI, Aug 7 � MiG-21s, which have been in news for frequent crashes, will be phased out of the Indian Air Force by 2017 and replaced by modern fighter aircraft such as Su-30MKI and indigenous LCA.
�The MiG 21s will get phased out by 2015-16. I think the last of the squadrons of the aircraft will be phased out by 2017,� Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju told PTI here.
Over the years, the IAF has inducted a total of 946 MiG 21s in its fleet and 476 of them have been lost in various accidents over the past 45 years.
In a recent report, the ministry acknowledged that most of these accidents had occurred due to old technology.
The minister said the MiG 21s �constitute the majority of our squadrons and they will gradually be replaced by the Light Combat Aircraft (LCAs) and the Su-30MKI.�
Raju said after the phasing out of the �MiG 21s from operational service, the IAF will have the LCA, SU-30MKI, Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft and the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), which is being developed with Russia.� � PTI
