Indian Navy, IAF decommission old Ilyushin-38, MiG-21 aircraft

New Delhi: Indian Navy on Tuesday bid adieu to its Ilyushin-38 Sea Dragon long range maritime patrol aircraft after 46 years of service, while the India Air Force phased out one more squadron of ageing MiG-21 combat aircraft that had heralded the jet era in the IAF six decades ago.

“The ILs were flying till the very last day, culminating nearly 52,000 hours of flying! A remarkable feat indeed, which aptly sums up the exacting standards that Team 315 (INAS 315) had set for itself,” Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar said at the decommissioning ceremony at Dabolim.

The naval aviation squadron known as Winged Stallions was commissioned on Oct 1, 1977 with the induction of IL-38 aircraft heralding a modern era of airborne long range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare.

The reconnaissance aircraft that was modified later with the integration of the Sea-Dragon suit, has over the years, proven itself to be a formidable force-multiplier.

“While flying will come to an end, two of IL-38 aircraft will remain stationed permanently, one at National Maritime Heritage Museum at Lothal and the other at Nipani in Karnataka,” Admiral Hari Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the IAF decommissioned one of its oldest MiG-21 units at Air Force Station Uttarlai. The 4 Squadron, which had been flying the MiG-21s since 1966 will now fly Su-30 MKI.

The MiG-21 was the first supersonic fighter in service of the IAF and was inducted in 1963. It has participated in all major conflicts since then but in the last two decades it earned the sobriquet of 'flying coffins' because of frequent crashes.

The formal induction of the new aircraft in 4 Squadron was marked by a ceremony featuring a combined flypast by the MiG-21 and Su-30 MKI, which marked the last MiG-21 sortie for the squadron.

The IAF now operates only two squadrons of MiG-21, which will be phased out by 2025.