The Indian Air Force (IAF) decommissioned its fleet of MiG-27s at a formal ceremony held at an air force station in Jodhpur city in India's Rajasthan State on Friday.
Veteran and active air warriors attended the symbolic and emotionally-charged ceremony in large numbers. Air Marshal S. K. Ghotia, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force’s South Western Air Command, led the wind-down ceremony that included several other functions.
Netizens took to social media to express their sentiments on the aircraft’s final flight.
The Mikoyan MiG-27 is a ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau of the former Soviet Union and later produced in India by license at the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics.
The upgraded variant of this aircraft has, however, been the pride of IAF’s strike fleet since 2006. Currently, the IAF's 29 Squadron headquartered in Halwara in India’s Punjab state flies the MiG 27 Upgrades apart from other fighter aircraft such as the MiG 21 Type 77, MiG 21 Type 96 and MiG 27 ML. The upgraded version has taken part in several national and international air exercises
The MiG 27 now joins the MiG-23 BN and MiG-23 MF in their vintage status.