The Indian Air Force MUST stop this!

I am dumbfounded by the UNBELIEVABLE rate of attrition that the IAF is suffering with its Mig-21 fleet.

Do they not care about their pilots? The IAF should ground this obsolete death-trap aircraft once and for all if they cannot achieve even a close level of safe-use with it.

At this rate, the IAF is gonna run out of Mig-21’s by the end of 2007 anyway, but surely the aviators must be put before their aircraft!

I know I’m a radicalist, but I would have disbanded ALL of the Mig-21 squadrons over the last decade and had the whole lot trashed.

The Su-25 Frogfoot would have been a much better alternative, or even the Mirage-F1. These aircraft generally carry a reasonable safety record with their user countries.

Nonetheless, India has to look toward the future, and should begin getting rid of its overstocked inventory of obselete aircraft and replace them with smaller, downsized units of 3rd generation aircraft like the Su-27 / 30 or the Mirage-2000.

It is concievable, that if the IAF goes to war against a neighbour, it will lose more Mig-21 aircraft to accidents than it will to ground fire or air-air combat.