RAS question
After how many years of service was the MiG-21 fighter jet officially retired by the Indian Air Force in September 2025?
Correct answer: (D) 62 years.
The Indian Air Force officially retired the MiG-21 fighter jet in September 2025 after 62 years of service.
Explanation
The answer is 62 years because the MiG-21 entered Indian Air Force service in 1963 and was formally decommissioned at Chandigarh on September 26, 2025. The PIB release describes the ceremony as the final operational sortie of the MiG-21 and says it closed an IAF chapter of more than six decades. It also notes that the aircraft had been a long-serving symbol of India’s military aviation, with about 850 MiG-21s having served with the IAF. The farewell was not just a ceremonial retirement: the event included a flypast led by Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, and a joint MiG-21 and LCA Tejas flypast underlined the transition from the Bison to the indigenous Tejas.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 45 years is too short because the MiG-21 was inducted in 1963 and its decommissioning ceremony took place in September 2025, well beyond four-and-a-half decades.
- (B) 52 years would place the service period below the PIB’s 'more than six decades' description and does not match the 1963-to-2025 timeline.
- (C) 57 years is still short of the 62-year service span implied by induction in 1963 and retirement in September 2025.
Concept
This tests current defence technology and indigenisation, a recurring RAS area because aircraft retirements, platform transitions and Make-in-India defence milestones often appear in Science and Technology current affairs.