Indian Air Force's women fighter pilots may fly MiG-21 Bisons: Know about combat jets

Three women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force are likely to fly MiG-21 Bisons.

“The present consideration is to put them to MiG-21 Bison squadron. Our opinion is that it will sharpen their skills as the aircraft has more manual features than other sophisticated aircraft,” Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said on the Air Force Day on Sunday.

As Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh script history, here's all you need to know about the combat jet:

1: The single engine, single seater multirole fighter forms the back-bone of the Indian Air Force. It has a max speed of 2230 km/hour (Mach 2.1) and carries one 23mm twin barrel cannon with four R-60 close combat missiles. The supersonic aircraft, which is a successor of MiG-19, was manufactured by the Russian Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in early 1950s.

2: Over 13,000 aircraft have been produced in the series under various names.

3: The star performers of the Indian Air Force, the MiG-21 Bisons played a stellar role in 1971 Indo-Pak war. So far, the Indian Air Force has operated over 800 MiG-21 under various roles.

4: Dominating the airspace for over five decades, the Indian Air Force is finally set to relieve the workhorses. By 2022, the IAF would be able to procure Generation 4 fighter jets.

5: There are over 150 Bisons currently operating in the IAF. The force would need massive upgrade to keep up its edge in the Southeast Asian region.