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 (September 26, 2025) — its final adieu edged in history and many a remembrance.
MiG-21 have shielded India’s skies as recently as May this year during Operation Sindoor, its swansong. It’s almost absurd that a second-generation fighter, designed in the 1950s, shared airspace with the Dassault Rafale—a 4.5-generation multirole jet—among the most advanced in the world today