MiG-21 decommissioning: Jairam Ramesh recalls how Nehru withstood pressure from US, UK to choose Soviet jet

With the MiG-21 fighter jet retired from service, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday recalled that India and the USSR signed the MiG-21 pact in 1962 despite intense pressure from the US and UK, as the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru and defence minister V K Krishna Menon held firm.

The legendary Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 fighter jets, the backbone of the Indian Air Force's combat fleet for more than six decades, streaked through Indian skies for the last time on Friday -- its final adieu etched in history and public memory.

The country's first supersonic fighter and interceptor aircraft were retired on Friday at the decommissioning event in Chandigarh, where it was first inducted.


In a post on X, Ramesh said, "It was on August 22, 1962, that India and the USSR signed the MiG-21 pact. The agreement paved the way for deeper Indo-Soviet cooperation in the defence sector.

"In 1987, India's foremost strategic affairs guru K Subrahmanyam wrote that V K Krishna Menon had virtually forced the choice of MiG-21 on the Indian Air Force, but that in retrospect 'Mr. Menon was right in doing so'," Ramesh said.

"It was the Soviet acceptance of India's conditions for local manufacture by HAL and technology transfer that had influenced the choice of the Soviet aircraft over its competitors from the UK, US, France, and Sweden," he said.

There had been intense pressure from the US and UK, especially, but both Nehru and Menon held firm, Ramesh said.

The culmination of MiG-21 operations took place with a ceremonial flypast and decommissioning event, marking the closure of a historic chapter in India's air power.

MiG-21 jets, belonging to number 23 Squadron, took part in the flypast ceremony and were given a water cannon salute.

The MiG-21 jets made their last operational flights at the Nal Air Force Station in Rajasthan's Bikaner, a month ahead of the formal retirement ceremony.

As part of the symbolic farewell, Air Chief Marshal Singh had also flown solo sorties of the MiG-21 from Nal on August 18-19.