New Delhi: The Vietnamese media has reported that “Vietnam is planning to convert its Mig-21 fighter jets into combat drones.” MiG-21 fighter jets had remained the backbone of Vietnamese air force and still MiG-21 fighter jets are used by the Indian air force.
The Vietnam air force retired its Mig-21 in 2010 and now plans to convert its fighter planes into combat drones. In India – Many MiG planes are crashed in the last few years.
Mig-21 took its fight flight in 1955 and this fighter jet was top-most interceptor for the Soviet Air Force. Russian origin Mig-21 remained one of the most produced aircraft ever and still many nations are using this fighter jet including India.
These are manually operated aircraft, which require a lot of expertise and skills to fly – and even today these jets are operated by pilots who have gathered a sizable amount of flying experience.
The Russian made Mig-21 has manual flight controls and designing of computer interface is very difficult and expensive. Even the Russians have not done it who preferred to build new drones altogether.
The United States had also tried to convert its fighter jets F16 into Q16 combat drone and it was quite successful. (Q for Drones)
The MiG-21s have earned the respect of all aviationists in the world and have left a golden mark in the history of aviation. It marked a milestone during the Cold War and frightened the Americans when it first came to service. It was developed after gaining experience from the MiG-17s and MiG-19s, which were the world’s earliest supersonic fighter jets, developed by the Soviet Union.
_Vinayak