Govt to phase-out MiG fighter aircraft by 2017: Antony

Defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday said that the Government is planning to phase out the MiG fighter aircrafts from Indian Air Force(IAF) by 2017.

Addressing Rajya Sabha members, Antony said modern aircrafts such as the Su-30 MKI, Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the Medium-Multirole Combat Aircraft (M- MRCA) would be procured to replace the MiG 21s and MiG 23s.

The minister said the initial operational clearance of LCA has been conducted successfully and it will be inducted in the Air Force very soon.

On the proposal to procure 126 MMRCA, Antony said the project is not lagging behind and it will not take time up to 2020 to introduce the aircrafts in the IAF.

On the issue of Russian aircraft spare parts, he said quality wise there is no problem but the disintegration of Soviet Union in the early 1990s had delayed the delivery of the parts, as manufacturing companies had shifted their bases.