So this one may be an odd one that I'm gonna look at today here on FTD facts
But I'm gonna look at one of the two most widely used fighters on the planet
Although one is much older than the other there has been recent news and stories of mig-21 shooting down f-16s
of course in the country of India and Pakistan
But however today we look at the differences between them and figure out what makes these fighters still dangerous today
Although some may have newer technology and some may be outdated. How's it going everybody? What's up?
Dave Wolple here and welcome to FTD facts a channel where I look at people cultures places and
Military hardware and gear and divisions from all around the world. Yeah, we can't do a lot of stuff here. But anyways, so today
Yes, we're gonna look at the mig-21 and we're gonna look at the f-16
I know a lot of you guys are like what why would you even bother the f16 is clearly superior?
but as stated there was recent news about India and Pakistan and a lot of you guys actually
Requested us to talk about these two fighters and compare them. So I'm gonna do it originally though
I was a little hesitant on it because you know, I know down there in the comments section people are just gonna be
Against each other which guys I'm just gonna say this right now
I do not have not picked a side of whether or not one country is more guilty than the other
Here's the reason why I've come to acknowledge that the people within different countries are great in their own unique way
But me when it comes to situations of conflict and war
I don't know about you guys, but I don't even believe my own government is telling the truth of certain things
I know from the past government's lies. So that's why I don't really pick sides
But with that let's get that out of the way. Let's just look at the facts of these two fighters
Let's get rocking and rolling now. Why compare these?
Well, first of all
the mig-21 is one of the most produced aircrafts in the entire world coming in with a total of eleven thousand four hundred and
Ninety-six now, of course, there's different versions and variants
I'm gonna get into that later on in this video
But it's also really fascinating to know that the mig-21 at one point had the record of being produced the longest of any fighter
Prior to the f-16s release. So how long have these fighters been in production for it? Well, let's start off with the basics
So you got the mig-21. It was introduced in 1959 made by the Soviet Union company known as mikoyan-gurevich
Basically, that's why you get and the inm IG is small. That's right
Now this aircraft ran into production until 1985 with over 10,000 of them made in Russia
657 of them at least were made in India alone. And of course
194 of them were made in Czechoslovakia. India has been operating this aircraft since 1961. And as of today they are the largest
operators of this type of vehicle and to add to that of course the f-16 in today's world may have more
Operators of all the countries in the world that it's currently in the mig-21. However has a lot more countries of operation in history
However, I'm only gonna list off the current ones because let's be perfectly honest going back in history
The list is long currently in today's world. The mig-29 is operated by the countries of angola
azerbaijan croatia cuba egypt Guinea guinea-bissau
India Libya Mali Mozambique
North Korea Romania Serbia, Sudan Syria Uganda Yemen
and of course the country of Zambia and in case you were wondering how long this aircraft was in production for it was approximately
26 years that of course doesn't mean the actual development stage of that
I'm not going to incorporate that either the f-16 besides its initial flight tests and development stage was introduced on August
17 1978 and as a matter of fact, they are still being produced today
However, in 2018 they took a little bit of a pause of producing them
This is because the f-16 factory from Texas moved to South Carolina
Simply because the Texas factory was going to push the f-35 in total as of 2018
There has been four thousand six hundred and four of these aircrafts made and they are still growing
There's a lot of countries that are still ordering this aircraft
as for
operators most countries that have an
operational history
Still use it today and it's proved to be a very great fighter because of that and in today's world
Do you have the countries of the United States?
Obviously that operates this vehicle Israel, which is also the second largest f-16 user in the world
You have Pakistan which had their aircrafts delivered in 1983 on top of that
You have Turkey Egypt the Netherlands Belgium, Denmark Venezuela, Norway Jordan
UAE Morocco Bahrain Greece Iraq, Oman Indonesia
Singapore South Korea the Republic of China Thailand Chile
Poland and Romania
basically 28 countries at least and also to give you an idea as of
2019 although this vehicle is still in production. This thing has been in production for over 40 years
nuts but you might be really fascinated to know that although production of the
mig-21 stopped in 1985
These aircrafts are still capable of shooting down in f-16 and there's been a lot of stories of this aircraft doing that
However, I'm not gonna go into that news because we're talking about the specifics here
and with that we're gonna go into variants for variants the
Mig-21 was all over the place with many different versions for example from 1957 to 1961
Which is considered the first generation of this fighter
there were 13 different versions the big one of these was the
Mig-21 F which was the more common variant these different versions and sub versions had not only different equipment used with them
but also had different types of wings such as Delta and
swept-wing aircraft types
however
One thing to know about the mig-21 is it was the first fighter to combine the fighter and interceptor?
Characteristics in the country of Russia. This was a
Groundbreaking single-seat fighter, which that's the reason why Russia made so many of them as well
There was the mig-21 P which they upgraded to adopt a interceptor missile and I'm not gonna go through all the different versions
I mean literally you can see it on this list of there are just so bloody many
However, in the modern world there is something called the mig-21
93 this had upgraded radar which was taken from the mig-29. It also uses upgraded air-to-air missiles
There's also the mig-21 2004 Israel as well as the mig-21 D and the mig-21 um D
Which is basically used for Croatia and is made for NATO compatibility
One of the big ones that I want to talk about which a lot of you guys from India will know is the mig-21 bison
This one is the main aircraft from India and it uses a lot of their missiles
They also have a semi radar homing cape ability
This version was said to be equivalent to the early f-16s
India's also upgraded this aircraft to improve on the helmet mount site and it is even formidable against f15 seas
lastly though the mig-21
97 this one's the beast besides its upgrades from the mig-21 93
It is said to be superior by Russian standards to an f-16 even beating them in a tested dogfight
However with that fact it's more or less a rumor
I couldn't find actual stats on that but that's what's been said, but however
Even if it's true if they could beat them in a dogfight
Let's be realistic the modern-day
F-16s and past ones have a lot going for them the f-16 however may not have many different variants
But the United States was a little more organised in what they wanted the fighter to
Do you have your initial a and B versions which the B was a two seater?
However, these have been majorly replaced by the C and D which came out in 1984
These variants had improved radar and all-weather capability and new types of missiles
There's also even the more upgraded version which is the E and the F
they have conformable fuel tanks and a much more powerful engine as well as
upgraded radar as well
now India also has their very own version which is called the
F-16 AI and this one has a lot of upgrades from the E and F equipment
But they also upgraded the cockpit glass and the helmet mounted cueing system as well as an upgraded
Electronic warfare and most importantly infrared search and track unit on top of that
There's also the f-16 Q and the N. There's also the f-16 V and the Q
F-16 which that particular version is a unmanned
robotic Li controlled
F-16 so we got variants out of the way. Let's look at numbers range
combat, radius all that sort of thing for the length of the mig-21 comes in at fourteen point seven meters the width or
wingspan is
approximately seven point one four meters with a height of four the
F16 has a length of fifteen point zero six meters with the width of nine point nine six and a height of four point eight
Eight meters basically you got your mig-21, which is a little bit smaller, but not by much
The mig-21 also has a loaded weight of nineteen thousand two hundred and thirty pounds that is with two times
K13 a missiles with a maximum takeoff weight of approximately
Twenty one thousand six hundred pounds the f-16 however can carry a lot more as it has a loaded weight of twenty six
thousand five hundred pounds and a maximum
takeoff weight of forty two thousand three hundred pounds
Which means you can carry heavier equipment heavier guns heavier bombs that sort of thing
The mig-21 has a speed at sea level of Mach one point zero five
however
If it gets to the height of forty two thousand six hundred and forty feet it can go Mach one point seven six
The range of this aircraft is approximately one thousand four hundred and seventy kilometers
Which is also nine hundred and ten miles and it has a service ceiling of fifty seven thousand four hundred feet the f-16
However is much faster. It can go at a speed of Mach
1.2. But however at a much higher altitude it is capable of going Mach two
However, its combat radius is much smaller of three hundred and forty miles
Which is also five hundred and fifty thousand kilometers. Keep in mind though
it's fair range can be upgraded to two thousand two hundred and sixty miles or
Four thousand two hundred and twenty kilometers with drop tanks the service ceiling for this aircraft
Is over fifty thousand feet and now let's take a look at armaments
Basically, your mig-21 has a 1 times internal 23 millimeter
Autocannon with two hundred rounds and unfortunately, it only has four
hardpoints that can hold a capacity of four thousand four hundred pounds
however, of course, this aircraft can be loaded with many different types of you nisshin's the f16 has a 1 x
20-millimeter autocannon, which is a six barrel rotary cannon with
511 rounds it's hard points
However is much more with a two-time wing tip
air-to-air missile launch rails and as well a 6 x under wing and a three times under
Fuselage pylon and for it it is capable of holding a 17,000 pounds
Both of these aircrafts can be loaded with rockets air-to-ground missiles and air-to-air missiles
However, the f16 specializes more an anti-ship and can carry for two up to 12 times bombs either way guys
That is a look at these two particular
Aircrafts I want to know your thoughts on it. Yes, of course
The mig-21 is a far less superior aircraft in terms of numbers
But you got to remember the fact there are a lot of them out there and they are still a very dangerous fighter
But let me know your thoughts on it down there in the comments section below
My name is Dave Walpole
And I want to thank you guys for tuning in now before you guys get out of here
Just to let you guys know we've done a lot of different playlists on different types of militaries around the world
I'm gonna put some of our playlists in the comments section down below at the end of this video and in the cards above
Feel free to check those out. It's really good
Especially if you like learning about different militaries from different places or even your own country, so thanks for watching
I'll see you in the next one. Bye
Okay guys, so here are those playlists that I was telling you about
You guys want to look at them and learn as much as you possibly can I love learning about militaries and I love comparing different
Militaries. It's kind of interesting. So feel free to check them out. Hit that subscribe button. We'll see you later, bye-bye