MiG-21

is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.

Some MiG-21s remain in active service with several air forces even seven decades after the aircraft's first flight

1959 (MiG-21F)

In service

During the Kargil war in 1999, the IAF MiG-21s were pressed into combat air patrols and reconnaissance duties at high altitudes in Kashmir.

Tomes with a salvo from Tran's UB-16-57/S-5M unguided rocket-equipped MiG-21; this was the first instance of a VPAF MiG-21 shooting down a piloted enemy aircraft in the Vietnam War.

During the early stages of the 1990s' Yugoslav wars, the Yugoslav military used MiG-21s in a ground-attack role, while Croatian and Slovene forces did not yet have air forces at that point in the conflict.

People's Liberation Army Air Force - replaced by the Chengdu J-7, a license-built version of the MiG-21. In addition to MiG-21F-13s supplied by the Soviet Union, China also traded a small amount of MiG-21MFs with J-7 export variations, then developed the J-7C/D variants based on the MiG-21MF. The deal was between China and a certain Middle Eastern country. In May 2013, an official publication from Chengdu Aircraft Corporation reported that J-7 production had ceased after decades of manufacturing variations of this Chinese-made MiG-21.

Luftwaffe

Indian Air Force - retired from operational service on 26 September 2025

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union.