There are many aspects of the latest India, Pakistan confrontation. There being no submarines showing their hand (so far) below I am looking at the Pakistan F-16 vs Indian MiG-21 (called “Bison” not NATO designation “Fishbed” in India).
It would seem that India has made its aging MiG-21smore formidable by arming them with Soviet/Russian developed air-to-air missiles (AAMs) that are proving better than US developed AAMs.
Russia Today (RT) March 1, 2019 reports:
“Could Indian MiG-21 have downed Pakistani F-16? Military expert says it’s up to pilot, not plane
India’s claim that its MiG-21 fighter jet shot down a more modern Pakistani Air Force F-16 [on Thursday 28 February 2019] seems surprising at first, but a military expert tells RT there is more to the Indian Air Force than meets the eye.
The [Indian Air Force] IAF confirmed that one of its MiG-21 fighters downed a PAF F-16 on Thursday, two days after Pakistan said that it had shot down two Indian jets as tensions continue to mount between the two nuclear powers over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
News reports from battle zones often contain “inaccuracies or deliberate disinformation,” but it doesn’t mean that a MiG-21 couldn’t have hit an F-16, even though the two planes are of completely “different generations,” Mikhail Khodarenok, military expert and retired colonel who served in Russian missile defense forces, told RT.
MiG-21 is a third-generation supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, which was introduced into the Soviet military in 1959. The F-16 is a fourth-generation supersonic multirole fighter, which entered service with the US Air Force almost two decades later.
Obviously, the F-16 has much more advanced characteristics, including the combat radius of 547 km, compared to 370 km of MiG-21.
However, Khodarenok explained that the MiG-21-93 ‘Bison’ used by the Indian Air Force is
“a largely modernized version of the aircraft. Its ‘Spear’ radar system allows tracking down incoming enemy aircraft at a distance of up to 57 kilometers in the front and up to 30 kilometers in the rear. It can track eight targets at the same time, with the quick search and automatic capture of visually observed targets in close combat mode concluding with the use of guided missiles or cannon.”
MiG-21 Bison boasts medium-range R-77 air-to-air self-guided missiles as part of its arsenal. They have a range of 110 kilometers and can reach the speed of 4250 km/h, while carrying a 22-kilogram warhead, he said.
“So MiG-21-93 could’ve well shot down an F-16. And could’ve done it easily,” Khodarenok said. “Besides, the best plane is the one with the best pilot inside. The rest is details.”
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Separately, below is a relevant youtube, although it feature an AIM-120D AMRAAM, which is more modern and capable than Pakistan’s US supplied AIM-120C-5.
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Separately, below is a relevant youtube, although it feature an AIM-120D AMRAAM, which is more modern and capable than Pakistan’s US supplied AIM-120C-5.