The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday retired the No. 51 ‘swordarms’ MiG-21 fighter Squadron based in Srinagar. With this the IAF is left with three MiG-21 Bison squadrons, which will be phased out in the next three years.
The Squadron had stopped its flying operations from June 30, 2022 ahead of its number-plating, the IAF said in a statement. The Squadron was number-plated at a ceremony on Friday.
After aircraft are decommissioned, squadrons are raised again with new aircraft. In ‘number plating’ a squadron is placed in reserve, post phasing out of existing aircraft, until it is re-operationalised with new aircraft in future.
The 51 Squadron is the same Squadron of which Group Captain (then Wing Commander) Abhinandan Varthaman was part of and saw action in February 2019, a day after the Balakot air strike.
The Squadron was raised in Chandigarh on February 01, 1985 under the command of Wing Commander V.K. Chawla and moved to Srinagar on May 01, 1986. It was initially equipped with MiG-21 Type 75 aircraft and converted to the upgraded MiG-21 Bison in January 2004.
The primary role of the Squadron was air defence of the Kashmir Valley and being the only fighter Squadron in the Valley, the ‘swordarms’ earned the title ‘guardians of the valley’.
The Squadron was tested in the 1987 Operation Brasstacks when it carried out intensive valley flying and manned operational readiness platforms from both Srinagar and Awantipur over a three-month period, the IAF said.
The ‘swordarms’ also participated in Operation Safed Sagar in the 1999 Kargil conflict in which it flew 194 sorties and were conferred one Vayu Sena medal and three Mention-in Dispatches. For their role during Operation Parakram, the mobilisation carried out post the Parliament attack, the Squadron was awarded the President’s Standard on March 22, 2018.
