Fighter Aircraft Combat Statistics / MiG-21 Fishbed
Combat record
MiG-21 Fishbed — Combat Record
2nd-generation jet · USSR · First flight 1955 · Combat-proven: air-to-air
Photo: U.S. DoD / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
100–180Confirmed air-to-air kills
200–500Air-to-air losses
≈0.6 : 1Kill ratio (midpoint)
1955First flight
The story behind the numbers
The most-produced supersonic aircraft in history fought everywhere jets fought for half a century, and its ledger — roughly 150–180 kills against 200–500 losses — is really a dozen different wars averaged together. Over Vietnam it humbled American technology: fast, tiny and GCI-vectored, MiG-21s forced the US to reinvent air-combat training.
Indian MiG-21s won battles in 1971; Arab MiG-21s bled against Israeli Mirages and F-15s; African and Balkan examples fought on into the 2000s. It remains the only fighter credibly claimed to have downed an F-16 in India–Pakistan’s 2019 skirmish. Cheap, honest and everywhere — the Kalashnikov of the air.
One of the most-produced and combat-active jets ever built — fast, cheap and flown by dozens of air forces across four continents.
Campaign by campaign
| Years | Campaign | Operator | Victories | A2A losses | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965–73 | Vietnam War | N. Vietnam | 67 | 65 | VPAF-credited figures; US accounting differs sharply — an unresolved dispute. |
| 1971 | Indo-Pakistani War | India | 8 | 4 | Downed F-104s, F-6s, a Sabre and a C-130 — well documented. |
| 1980–88 | Iran–Iraq War | Iraq | 43 | 52 | Both sides’ claims inflated; heavy losses to Iranian F-14s and F-4s. |
| 1982 | Lebanon War | Syria | 0 | 40 | ~37–45 Syrian MiG-21s downed by Israel; no confirmed Syrian kills. |
How we count. Victories are credits recognised by the operating air force, cross-checked against opposing loss records where they exist. Where wartime credits and postwar research genuinely disagree we show the range, not a single number. Friendly-fire and accident losses are not counted as air-to-air losses. Full methodology on the statistics hub.
Go deeper