List of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 operators
On March 13, 1976, a pair of FAPA-DAA MiG-21MFs destroyed an Air Zaïre Fokker F27 on the ground at Lumbala Airport using S-24 rockets.
The MiG-21FL, or the Type 77, was designed by Mikoyan to fulfill an Indian requirement, and this was the first version to be licence-built in India by HAL.
[20] 33 MiG-21s were still in service in 2006 according to an Israeli intelligence report; presently, there is one squadron, the 1021st based at Gamal Abdel Nasser AB near Tobruk, still operating MiG-21bis fighters and MiG-21UM trainers.
[37] The only air-to-air action known to have involved Sudanese MiG-21s occurred on September 20, 1972, when two MiG-21Ms forced several Libyan AF C-130Hs to land at Khartoum International Airport.
These losses were covered by future deliveries from the USSR, as well as four MiG-21F-13s from Czechoslovakia and 12 PFs (free of charge) from Hungary, Kecskemét AFB.
Sixty-one MiG-21MFs were delivered between 1971 and 1973, but massive losses during the Yom Kippur War (180 Syrian fighters of all types were lost) resulted in the delivery of 75 more MFs from the USSR.
[45] Lastly, in December 2008, a MiG-21bis crashed on take-off from Matari Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during operations against the Lord's Resistance Army.
Small numbers of aircraft left behind by the Soviet Air Force after their withdrawal were taken up by the DRAAF, including MiG-21PFS (izd.
[31] The Taliban's IEAAF MiG-21s are known to have shot down two Mi-8 helicopters of the Northern Alliance, while an NA MiG-21 is credited with a kill of an IEAFF Su-20.
[54] Some MiG-21s were traded to Ukraine as part of a package for 36 MiG-29S; similar deals may have been made with Belarus, who provided Algeria with 36 more MiG-29S aircraft.
[12] The following units operated MiG-21s in 1992:[12] On 18 December 2015, Bulgaria retired their last three serviceable MiG-21s, two single-seat MiG-21bis' and a two-seat MiG-21UM1 trainer; the two fighters will remain available to conduct quick reaction alert sorties until 31 December, then be put in storage at Graf Ignatievo Air Base.
The aircraft had been kept in service three years after they were originally slated for retirement due to airworthiness problems experienced by the MiG-29 fleet, but the cost of overhauling them further was rejected and efforts were redirected to maintaining the MiG-29.
[12] People's Liberation Army Air Force: Three complete 'MiG-21F-13' and 20 kits were sent from the USSR to China in 1961; the rest used by the PLAAF were all locally built Chengdu J-7 aircraft.
[12] An Avia S-106 flown by a J. Foks is credited with the downing of a US Air Force aircraft violating Czechoslovak airspace in September 1963.
[12] East German Air Force (LSK/NVA): 251 MiG-21s of seven versions were handed over to the Luftwaffe upon reunification; these were rapidly phased out of service.
MiG-21 order of battle as of 2007 (total 18 fighters and 6 trainers):[12] By 2014, all MiG-21s had been retired, as per Flight International's World Air Forces 2014 report.
[70][39] Late 1973 (after Yom Kippur war) Hungary donated free of charge 12 PFs to Syria from inventory of Kecskemét AFB.
The aircraft were largely grounded in 1969 due to deteriorating bilateral relation and spare part embargo by the Soviet Union and removed from service in 1970.
The East German Air Force (and subsequently, the Luftwaffe) had planned to sell surplus trainer variants to Iraq, but this fell through after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
A number of MiG-21s of various models have been captured in wars with neighbours, but the best-known example is the "007" aircraft, a 'MiG-21F-13' of the Iraqi pilot, Munir Redfa who defected to Israel in 1966.
[84] In the early 2000s, some offers were made for the overhaul of the remaining aircraft, in order to bring them back into service.
[12] On July 15, 1970, a Polish MiG-21 flown by Henryk Osierda accidentally shot down a Su-7BKL of the Czechoslovak air force.
[88] Some LanceRs remain in service until 2023, restricted to air policing and training, after accidents caused a shutdown of its use.
These include four out of six Algerian MiG-21F-13s that landed in error at an airbase in Egypt that had been captured by Israel during the Six-day war.
[102] The famous "007" MiG-21F-13 of an Iraqi defector to Israel was also handed over to the Americans; while, at least 13 MiG-21F-13s were sent from Indonesia to the US by President Suharto in the early 1970s.
This MiG-21F-13 was given the USAF serial number 68-0965 and was intensively flight-tested in a programme codenamed HAVE DOUGHNUT that took place from January 23 to April 8, 1968.
The final report concluded that the MiG-21F-13 was comparable to USAF types and though it was lacking in range and payload, it was "very manoeuvrable with an excellent rate of climb and acceleration", making it a good interceptor.
Later variants were almost certainly tested after 1969; this is lent weight by the crash of a MiG-23M on Nellis Range on April 26, 1984, in which the pilot, Lt Gen Robert M. Bond was killed, which suggests that the reports of an organisation called "Red Hat Squadron" have a basis in fact.
In November 1979, North Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh concluded an arms deal with the USSR, including 60 MiG-21bis and MiG-21UM.
[117] Very little MiG-21 activity is known of from the time of the NATO bombardment, though a MiG-21 is credited with the downing of a BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile on March 24, 1999.
