MiG-21 Operations & News

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Final MiG-21 Fishbeds Stand Down From Active Duty In Europe

End of an era marked as Croatian MiG-21s end their operational duties ahead of their replacement by Dassault Rafales. Veteran Croatian MiG-21 fighters have completed operational duties, ahead of their replacement by Dassault Rafales.
www.twz.com www.twz.com
 
Despite their age I wonder if these Croatian MiG-21 Fishbeds will be refurbished and donated to Ukraine? They need every aircraft they can get hold of.
 
No they dont need every aircraft. They will get gripens, for example, but not right away as they barely have the manpower to utilize even the f16s that they have. They will get some m2000 this Spring. So gripens will wait a bit.

Plus they were offered mig21 before but said no. Which makes sense. Ukraine has not operated mig21 for a long time. It would be a strain on the logistics. And its a type that brings in minimal capability, compared to all other options.
 
NMaude said:
Despite their age I wonder if these Croatian MiG-21 Fishbeds will be refurbished and donated to Ukraine? They need every aircraft they can get hold of.
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That mistake was already made in my country in 1936, the Republican government bought in Europe and America all the planes that no one wanted and reality showed that 90 percent lacked military use due to lack of spare parts (53 engine models) and trained pilots.

Anexo:Aviones de la guerra civil española - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.wikipedia.org es.wikipedia.org
 
I hope they find their way in private hands...it would be nice to see them fly for an upgraded TOP GUN remaster shoot.

Image a drone with an IMAX camera filming an actual air-to-air missile strike up close.

They deserve to go out in style.
 
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Truly an end of an era. Only a handful of elite fighters stand alongside or surpass the mig-21. It will be in good company along with the greats like the F-86, Mirage III, F-4, F-16, etc...
 
NMaude said:
Despite their age I wonder if these Croatian MiG-21 Fishbeds will be refurbished and donated to Ukraine? They need every aircraft they can get hold of.
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A funny thing is that these Fishbeds were aquired from Ukraine between 1993 and 1994, while Croatia was at war.
 
paralay said:
Curious to find out what is the resource of the aircraft?
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They can be basically returned to zero hours condition.

www.ziaruldeiasi.ro

Aerostar a finalizat modernizarea primelor avioane MiG-21 croate

SC Aerostar Bacau a scos de pe flux primele avioane MiG-21 modernizate, apartinind armatei croate. Reprezentatii Ministerului Apararii din Croatia se afla in aceste zile la Bacau, pentru vedea care este stadiu lucrarilor. De asemenea, pilotii militari au venit si ei in Romania si au inceput...
www.ziaruldeiasi.ro www.ziaruldeiasi.ro

 
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I don't know if this is the right thread for it (I did do a search for "MiG-21" threads) but here's this interesting video by "Not A Pound For Air To Ground" channel about An early model MiG-21 that Israel obtained from a defecting Iraqi AF pilot in 1967 and that was instrumental in developing A2A tactics by F-4 Phantoms in fighting them over North Vietnam by the newly formed Top Gun:


The MiG-21 proved to be a deadly opponent for US aviators during Rolling Thunder. Although not enough to change the course of the war, through hit and run attacks and US rules of engagement the Fishbed achieved a 1:1 kill ratio against the TAC. If the Soviets were able to replicate this ratio in Central Europe during an all-out war then NATO would be in serious trouble.
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Learning to combat the Fishbed was therefore essential to US tactical and strategic war planners. Then one morning in August 1966 a disgruntled Iraqi pilot flew his MiG-21F-13 across Jordan an into Israel. In this video I tell the story of his escape, the web of trades and diplomacy that brought that aircraft to the US and the programme that exploited it: HAVE DOUGHNUT.
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I have wanted to make this video for a long time. As 2023 comes to close I thought I'd finally get it done. HAVE DOUGHNUT is an important programme as it reveals a lot about the doctrinal differences between the TAC and the Navy in the middle 1960s. It also gives hints about the tactical and teaching approach taken in the early years of Top Gun, which I personally found fascinating.
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Anyhow, I hope you enjoy. Comments always much appreciated. If you're an early viewer, a Happy New Year to you! Regardless, thanks so much for your support thus far and see you in 2024 and beyond.
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Sources:
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Blog post and video link for Throw A Nickel On The Grass at the US National Archives: https://unwritten-record.blogs.archiv...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqblZPaUJDN3pnQU9tazJ6cmN3QWgwaU9ZR3hLQXxBQ3Jtc0trSUk4ZnhPMHlyeElic2JXSFBIV0MtVmRSSkprZXBJS0ppVE9RTEtLQThMa0ZMMWs3VWh4R19NMTRHVkhjRUFjV0RMZzJQOUR0OGs4ZEh4ZEZOTlFQTktRQm5HSEFUVHBwdURSWHJ2NDdLLXRDRlhZYw&q=https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2022/10/18/throw-a-nickel-on-the-grass-and-have-a-doughnut%EF%BF%BC/&v=gBkxwylBQxw
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Scream Of Eagles: The Dramatic Account of the U. S. Navy's Top Gun Fighter Pilots and How They Took Back the Skies Over Vietnam by Robert Wilcox was used for some of the stories about the Navy's experience with DOUGHNUT
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MiG-21 technical detail was mainly sourced from MiG-21 Fishbed by Yefim Gordon and Bill Gunston
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Some of the Israeli experiences with the captured MiG-21 came from Mirage III vs MiG-21: Six Day War 1967 by Shlomo Aloni
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Two of many similar references to the Algerian MiGs that landed at El-Arish and were captured. I didn’t find conclusive evidence, but this explanation of the source for the ‘continuation Doughnut’ makes the most sense: http://vietnam.warbirdsresourcegroup....https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbXdIdEx2cUdYaERidnpCWTVQNC1IQVdreWF2QXxBQ3Jtc0tsRXZIcjg0ci1JcFBLUWJENmhlYnl2WUsweEdrRzFDU2QxOGpGR2tZMEtiaFNEZjVyV21EOEtiTXUxTXFrbm95eFcwTHdyY1EyamhXVHF0bUpGbmxadHVybnhZWV9EdW9UUVRqLTk5M0dlTTZLQnJ0WQ&q=http://vietnam.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/mig21_operators.html&v=gBkxwylBQxw
https://en.topwar.ru/42040-arabskie-m...
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It's a very interesting video and a little known aspect by the public about the MiG-21.
 

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