The Croatian Air Force’s MiGs have already left the duty duo, and will soon be grounded forever. At the mere mention of the MiG aircraft, most people in Croatia think of only one aircraft model, the MiG-21, one of the most legendary and famous military aircraft of all time, primarily due to its longevity. It has been in service for almost seven decades in more than 50 air forces around the world and has long been the backbone of the Croatian Air Force, which has had around 40 aircraft since its inception until its retirement.
The aircraft was primarily designed as a fighter/interceptor that could reach high speeds and intercept targets in a short time, and therefore the aircraft was designed to be smaller and lighter.
Early prototypes of the aircraft did not bear the MiG-21 designation, but rather the YE (Yedinitsa), of which six were built in total. The biggest differences were in the shape of the wings and the engines: YE-1 and YE-2 with a swept wing and YE-4 and YE-5 with a delta wing, the design of which the future MiG-21 kept. The differences in the engines were in the power of the Mikulin AM-9B (the same engine was used on the MiG 19) and the Mikulin AM-11, which had more power than the AM-9B, but also had a greater tendency to catch fire.
On later variants, with the appearance of the F13 model, the Tumansky R-11 engine appeared with higher power, 38kN, without afterburner, and 56kN with afterburner (afterburner). Later, newer, stronger and more modern engine variants appeared.
Variants throughout history
MiG-21P – without machine guns, with the ability to carry two air-to-air missiles, without the ability to fly at night and was not suitable for Soviet air defense
MiG-21PF – differs from the P version in that fuel tanks were installed behind the cabin and received a recognizable hump that was adopted by later models
MiG-21-PFS – a model with this variant Tumansky R-11-F2-300 which was designed to allow takeoff and landing at lower speeds
MiG-21R – an aircraft with 4 undercarriage points, 2 for missiles, 2 for additional fuel tanks, designed as a reconnaissance aircraft, had the ability to carry the so-called Scout capsules
MiG-21S, a fighter variant of the R version with a new radar and longer range
MiG-21M export version, identical to the S version
MiG-21SM – the first model on which the Tumansky R13 was used thrust 40kN without and 64kN with additional combustion.
The MiG-21SMT and MT never left the factory due to the extra weight and the engine not being able to deliver enough thrust
MIG-21bis – the latest and most modern variant, equipped with a new and far more powerful Tumansky R-25 engine, which in exceptional conditions could deliver 95kN of thrust, but only for a short time. The R-25 was adapted for low-altitude flights, while previous variants were not.
In addition to the new engine, a new radar and navigation system were installed that enabled landing in bad weather conditions, and it also had the ability to carry two air-to-air missiles on one sub-suspended point.
MiG-21 in Croatia
10/25/1991 Rudolf Perešin tried to get Croatia its first MiG-21 aircraft. Although he landed the plane in Austria, his act and statement “I am a Croat, I cannot and will not shoot at Croats!” drew attention to the events in Croatia at that time.
Not even 4 months later, in early February 1992, pilot Danijel Borović took off from the Željava base in formation with other aircraft and shortly after separated and landed at night at the Pula airport where he landed with the help of truck lights. With this, Croatia received its first MiG-21 aircraft, historical marking 101, and thus the Croatian Air Force received its first supersonic aircraft.
In mid-May 1992, 2 more aircraft were delivered by pilots Ivica Ivandić and Ivan Selak. Ivandić landed his “Vukovar Avenger” on Resnik, later called the “Vukovar Avenger”, and Selak landed his “Dubrovnik Avenger” on Pleso.
Although an embargo was imposed on Croatia, by the end of 1993 the Croatian Air Force had About 20 MiG-21 aircraft. Although the aircraft itself was outdated in the 1990s compared to Western-made aircraft, the MiG-21 played a significant role in operations ”Flash” and ”Storm” due to its flight characteristics, firepower and the skills of its pilots.
In the early 2000s, as it was obvious that the MiGs were nearing the end of their service life, there was an idea to replace the aircraft with newer and more modern ones. Due to the sheer cost of the new aircraft, the decision on the purchase was postponed and it was ultimately decided that two squadrons out of a total of 24 aircraft would be modernized in Romania in 2003. In the end, only 12 aircraft were modernized. After the modernization, it was planned that the aircraft would fly until the end of the decade, but due to the global crisis, the decision was postponed.
In 2013, it was decided that the aircraft would be sent to Ukraine for renovation in order to further extend their life, but due to the extremely poor condition of some of the aircraft, Croatia purchased five aircraft from the Ukrainian company where the overhaul was performed.
The refurbished Croatian and purchased Ukrainian MiGs were supposed to remain in service until the end of 2022, but due to problems in the procurement of Israeli F-16s, the retirement of the MiGs was postponed again.
In addition to the Israeli F-16s, in 2017 Croatia was offered the new SAAB JAS 39 Gripen, General Dynamics F-16s and a used Greek F-16. Israel’s offer was assessed as the most favorable for Croatia, but due to the inability to procure aircraft of the standard that were initially offered, the procurement of F-16s was abandoned.
The procurement was initially abandoned in early 2019 and there was no talk of restarting the procurement process until 2020, and later due to the COVID pandemic, the procedure was postponed. However, after the 2020 elections, the new (old) government decided to restart the aircraft procurement procedure.
The offers remained more or less the same – the new American F-16 and Gripen, the used Israeli F-16, but a new name appeared – the Dassault Rafale of the French Air Force.
After evaluating the offers received, a decision was made in mid-2021 that Croatia would acquire 12 Dassault Rafale aircraft from the French Air Force. The contract, worth almost a billion euros (999 million), covers the training of aircrew, weapons systems, spare parts and logistics.
The first 6 Rafale aircraft arrived in Croatia at the end of April 2024, the seventh arrived in November, and the eighth in December, with a delivery schedule of one aircraft per month until all 12 are delivered.
Although pilot training on the Rafales is in full swing, full operational readiness of the Rafales is expected by the end of 2025, and until then the Croatian skies should be guarded by Italian Eurofighters and Hungarian Gripens.
We should mention all the brave and fallen Knights while performing their tasks:
June 24, 1992. (first Croatian MiG 101) near Bosnian Posavina while performing a combat mission, pilot Ante Radoš was killed
September 25, 1993. near Vrginmost, a MiG-21 (103 – Osvetnik Vukovara) was shot down; pilot Miroslav Peris was killed
April 26, 1995. during preparations for Operation ”Flash” near Đakovo, pilot Zlatko Mejaški was killed
May 27, 1995. in Operation ”Flash” near Bosanska Gradiška, pilot Rudolf Perešin was killed
August 28, 1996. near Velika Gorica while returning from an exercise, pilot Ivan Bosnar was killed.
The noise of your engines is the sound of freedom that we live thanks to you. Thank you, Knights!
