The Indian Air Force (IAF) will by 2017 retire all of its remaining MiG-21 'Fishbed' fighter variants, one of which crashed in Rajasthan on 2 August, replacing them with Russian Su-30MKIs, the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) and 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) that are under acquisition. "The [majority of the] MiG-21s will get phased out by 2015-16. I think the last of their squadrons will be phased out by 2017," Junior Defence Minister M M Pallam Raju said in New Delhi on 7 August. MiG-21 variants have formed the backbone of India's fighter capability since 1964. The IAF inducted a total of 946 aircraft - 658 of which were built under licence by state- owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Bangalore - although 476 have been lost in accidents.
展开▼
机译：印度空军（IAF）将于2017年淘汰所有剩余的MiG-21“鱼床”战斗机，其中一架于8月2日在拉贾斯坦邦坠毁，由俄罗斯Su-30MKI（本土的Tejas轻型战斗机（LCA）取代） ）和126架正在采购的中型多用途战斗机（MMRCA）。国防部部长M M Pallam Raju于8月7日在新德里说：“大多数（MiG-21）轰炸机将在2015-16年前逐步淘汰。我认为他们的最后一批中队将在2017年逐步淘汰。”自1964年以来，MiG-21变型就已经成为印度战斗机能力的骨干。IAF共引进了946架飞机，其中658架是在班加罗尔的国有印度斯坦航空有限公司的许可下制造的，尽管其中有476架在事故中损失了。
展开▼
