Mikoyan’s aircraft design department was established on 8 December, 1939 as the Pilot Design Department of the Aviation Plant #1 and headed by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. It was later renamed "Experimental Design Bureau named after A.I. Mikoyan" otherwise known as the Mikoyan Design Bureau or Mikoyan OKB. In 1964 Gurevich retired, and Mikoyan passed away in 1970, and was succeeded by Rostislav ABelyakov and in 1978 the enterprise was named after Mikoyan.
Image :IAF
In 1995, Mikoyan OKB was merged with two production facilities to form the Moscow Aviation Production Association "MiG" (MAPO-MiG).There were several changes of the General Director and General Designer, even as the organisation concentrated on its last fighter design, the MiG-29 which was later upgraded to the MiG-29UPG standard alongside development of the navalised variant, the MiG-29K. Presently, the Company is concentrating on the MiG-35, itself based on the MiG-29 which serves considerable numbers with the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy.
Image :Angad Singh
India’s relationship with the iconic ‘MiG’ goes back to 1963 when the first variant of that classic, the MiG-21 f-13, appeared in IAF colours, to be followed over the next several decades with the follow on MiG-21FL, MiG-21MF, MiG-21bis and finally the MiG-21bison several squadrons of which are still in frontline service with the IAF.
The MiG-21 was followed by the MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27 and MiG-29 in IAF service, with well over a 1000 of these fighters adorning IAF colours for over half a century. On 8 December 2019, even as RAC-MiG are celebrating their 80th anniversary in Moscow, there are three locations in India which will mark the occasion in suitable manner : Nasik in Maharashtra where HAL built the MiG-21s and MiG-27s, Air Force Station Adampur in the Punjab which has hosted MiGs for over half a century and Dabolim in Goa where the Navy’s MiG-29Ks are shore based.
Na Zdorovie!