Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21

A MiG-21

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed is a single engined Soviet second-generation jet fighter. It is in service in over 50 countries, and with over 11,000 units built, one of the most produced warplanes since World War II.

First flew in 1956, this fighter had through various kinds of battles, in Arab-Israeli war 1967, Yom Kippur war 1973, India-Pakistan war, and many more. In history of aviation, this supersonic jet was the most producted jet, with over 11.000 plane has been made.

Athought after 50 years of serving, looks like this jet is still useful, especially for country with low budget on defence. The shocking news is in March 2019, MiG-21 Indian Airforce succesfully take down Pakistani F-16. In fact that F-16 is more high tech than an old MiG-21. This jet deserve a nickname "never gets old".

Details (MiG-21 F-13)

• Length: 51 ft 8.47 in
• Wingspan: 23 ft 5.66 in
• Maximum speed: 1,385 mph (2,125 km/h)
• Service ceiling: 62,335 ft
• Range: 981 miles

Variants

Development and Preperation

Ye-1 (1954)

Ye-2 (1954, NATO name "Faceplate")

Ye-2A (1955)

MiG-23 (1957, all units reused for test programs)

Ye-4 (1955, delta wing prototype of MiG-21)

Ye-50(1956, high altitude interceptor experiment)

Ye-50A (1956, refined Ye-50)

Ye-5 (1956)

MiG-21 (1956, first production fighters, five built. Focus moved to F variant)

Mass Production

Ye-6 (1957)

Ye-50P (1958 rocket boost project, cancelled)

MiG-21F (1959, Single seat day fighter, first production plane)

Ye-6/9 (1960, nuclear strike capablity test)

Ye-6T (1958, Atoll missile system test)

Ye-6T/1 (Ye-66) (1959, Red-31, broke world speed record)

Ye-6T/1 (Ye-66A) (1961, modified Ye-66 for altitude record)

Ye-6T/2 (1961, skid landing gear testbed)

Ye-6T/3 (1961, Ye-6T with canards test)

Mig-21 P-13 (1958)

MiG-21 F-13 9 (1960)

MiG-21FR

MiG-21F-13R (1974)

Ye-6V (1961, STOL test with JATO boosters)

Generation Two (1961-1966)

MiG-21PF

MiG-21L

MiG-21PFM

MiG-21RFM

MiG-21Ye

MiG-21FL

Ye-7SPS

MiG-21PFS

Ye-7M

MiG-21PFMA

MiG-21PFMN

MiG-21RFMM

MiG-21SPS-K

Ye-7R

Mig-21R

MiG-21RF

Ye-7S

MiG-21S

MiG-21N

MiG-21PD

Generation Three (1968-1972)

MiG-21M

MiG-21MA

MiG-21I (Wing testbed for TU-144)

MiG-21 K (proposed, cancelled)

MiG-21Sh

MiG-21SM

MiG-21MF

MiG-21MT

MiG-21 SMT

MiG-21 bis

MiG-21bis-D

MiG-21bis-T

Operators

Former Soviet Union

• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Russia
• Turkmenistan

Warsaw Pact/East Europe

• Bulgaria
• Former Czechoslovakia (Fleet shared between Czech Republic and Slovakia following partition on 1st January 1993)
• Former East Germany (Most scrapped after reunification)
• Hungary
• Poland
• Romania

Middle East

• Iraq
• Syria
• North Yeman

Europe

• Finland
• Former Yugoslavia
  • Croatia

The Americas

• Cuba: Over 175 examples, comprising 30 MiG-21F-13s, 35 MiG-21PFMsm 20 MiG-21PFMAs, 80 MiG-21bis, at least 10MiG-21U/UMs and an unknown number of MiG-21Rs.
• United States: A number of MiG-21s were flown by the USAF under the cover designation YF-110.

Gallery

Mig-21 "Analog", a large delta wing conversion prototype.

Trivia

• A MiG-21 was used for a Syrian defection on June 21, 2012.