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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. Its nicknames include: " Balalaika ", because its planform resembles the stringed musical instrument of the same ...
Romanian Air Force MiG-21 LanceR B Version for the Romanian Air Force upgraded by Elbit Systems of Israel and Aerostar SA of Romania, in 1995–2002. The LanceR A version is optimized for ground attack being able to deliver precision guided munitions of eastern and western origin as well as R-60, R-73 and Python III air-to-air missiles.
MiG-21Ms formed the basis for the MiG-21 Lancer A upgrade, and MiG-21MFs were rebuilt into MiG-21 Lancer Cs. A total of 73 Lancer A and 26 Lancer C were built, these were retired in May 2023. In Romanian service, all variants of the two-seat trainer were designated MiG-21DC (Dublă Comandă).
On 2 March 2022, a MiG-21 LanceR was lost while on an air patrol inside Romanian airspace near Cogealac, 60 miles from the Ukrainian border. This "occurred amid increased air police missions in Romania after the Russian invasion of Ukraine." An IAR 330 on a search and rescue mission for the missing MiG-21 crashed with seven fatalities.
The RP-21 Sapfir ( NATO codename: Spin Scan) was a radar system developed by the Soviet Union for use in the updated MiG-21PF fighter, and used in later versions of the MiG-21. The early MiG-21 fighter variants, MiG-21F and MiG-21F-13, were clear-weather daylight-only fighters. Although they were in use with the Soviet Air Force Frontal ...
The MiG-21 LanceR was officially retired on 15 May 2023. Ceremonies were held at the 71st Air Base and at the 86th Air Base. The MiGs were then flown to the 95th Air Base in Bacău for storage. Foreign deployments F-35s of the 388th Fighter Wing and F-16s of the 480th Fighter Squadron at the base in 2022
The core of the air force is a squadron of 12 modernised MiG-21 fighters. In 2003, a minor upgrade and an extensive overhaul were performed in Romania, incorporating navigation and communication elements of the Lancer standard to make them interoperable with NATO air forces. The aircraft received no upgrade to their weapons systems.
The avionics package is compatible with 5th generation fighter systems and it is inspired by the MiG-21 Lancer upgrade but adapted to IAR 99 needs. The first upgraded IAR 99 was the 18th production aircraft (number 718), which performed its first flight on 22 May 1997. [4]