The Oldest Fighter in Federation of Silanesia Air Force, F-21

History

The F-21 was made to replace MiG-21 and Sukhoi Su-7 of the Federation of Silanesia Air Force. Its development began on February 2, 1976, 3 years after the Silanesian Reformation from Communist State to Federation. The first prototype of F-21 was introduced on April 18, 1978, and its maiden flight occurred 2 weeks after the introduction.
After 3 years of trial and error, F-21 finally entered the service with Silanesia Air Force on 1981.
This aircraft was planned to be replaced by F-24.

As of 2009, 1,002 F-21 has been produced in 3 batch and used by 3 country.

F-21 Production Batch

-F-21 Block I Batch I (1981-1993)
The first batch of F-21, 478 unit produced.
-F-21 Block I Batch II (1993-2002)
2nd batch of F-21, improved capability of Air to Air
and Air To Ground, 352 unit produced.
-F-21 Block I Batch III (2003-2009)
Last batch of F-21, the aircraft itself, has a different design than batch I and batch II, also equipped with a new RAD-97R5 PESA Radar, 172 unit produced.

Trivia

-F-21 Batch 2003 also being nicknamed as "Silanesia F-5 Tiger", because the design of the aircraft was kind of like F-5E Tiger or F-20 Tigershark.
-Some F-21 was not pure F-21 Batch 2003, its only F-21 batch 1993 that modified its design to be like F-21 Block 2003 in 2019, also being equipped by RAD-97R5 radar, just like the F-21 Batch 2003.
-F-21 was the shortest fighter aircraft in FSAF inventaries, the length of the aircraft is only 12,9m, while the F-26 and F-24 has a length of 14,9m and 15,3m

User

Silanesia
Air Force
-16th Tactical Fighter SQ "Frigatebird", 6th Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Solszana Air Force Base.
-17th Tactical Fighter SQ "Voron", 6th Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Navarik Air Force Base, Forgaza Desert, Republic of Garadia.
-18th Tactical Fighter SQ "Igla", 6th Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Goronov Air Force Base.
-19th Tactical Fighter SQ "Neptune", 7th Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Askana Air Force Base.
-21st Tactical Fighter SQ "Cossack", 7 Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Halken Air Force Base.
-22nd Tactical Fighter SQ "Executioner", 8th Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Halken Air Force Base.
-23rd Tactical Fighter SQ "Kinzhal", 8th Air Wing, 2nd Air Group, Eric Johnson Air Force Base. (Now 23rd Aerobatic Squadron "Blue Arrow")

Naval Air Force
-Navy Tactical Fighter Squadron 12 "Guillotine", Naval Air Group 1, Varasquiz Naval Air Base.
-Navy Tactical Fighter Squadron 23 "Gehenna", Naval Air Group 2, Zalastria Naval Air Base.

Republic of Garadia
-8th Fighter SQ.
-35th Fighter-Bomber SQ.

Kingdom of Feresdria (Captured Aircraft from Fero-Silanesian War in 1982-1995)
-6th Tactical Fighter SQ.
-3rd Tactical Fighter SQ.
-55th Tactical Fighter SQ

Feature

VTOL Down = Flaps
AG 1 = Cockpit
AG 2 = Light
AG 3 = Jettison Air to Ground Weapon
AG 4 = Jettison Air to Air Weapon

Gallery

F-21 Block 1 "Batch 2003-2009" (Below) and F-21 Block 1 batch 1993-2002 (Above).

F-21 122 before modified, escorting F-24 Prototype.

F-21 122 in 2017

Credit

HUD:
PlanariaLab

Cockpit:
Pigpen

Sorry for my bad english XD