Wasn’t this thread about comparing the F-5E with the MiG-21bis? Let’s get it back on topic. 😀
It seems to me the F-5E and MiG-21 are not quite 100% directly comparable although they are still very similar in concept. The MiG-21 began as a lightweight, misslie carrying, tactical fighter for point defense as part of a GCI network. It’s secondary ground attack capability seems to have been added as a bit of an after thought. The F-5E on the other hand came into being in the oppisite way to the MiG-21. It was born as an aircraft optimized for air-to-ground work and it was only redesigned later to be more effective for air-to-air work as an afterthought. Both aircraft were of course later upgraded significantly. Here is my bid at a short comparisons of features for the stock MiG-21bis and F-5E, i’ll leave discussion of general performance other than range to others.
Some general data on ranges with various loads:
F-5E:
– Ferry range with maximum fuel (ie. all drop tanks fitted) was 2483 Km = 1543 miles.
– Combat radius with 2360kg = 5200 lb ordnance load, maximum fuel, and two Sidewinders 313 km = 195 miles.
– Combat radius with maximum fuel and 2 Sidewinder missiles 1055 km = 656 miles.
MiG-21bis: (I have found that truly reliable figures are hard to come by.)
– Ferry range with maximum fuel, probably around of 1200km with 3x480liter tanks and 1600 km with 2×480 liter tanks on the wings and a single 800 liter tank on the centerline.
I couldn’t find any data on MiG-21bis ranges with external loads, but the J-7III should be a usable substitute:
– Combat radius of a J-7III missiles and a full set of drop tanks 850 km = 525 miles.
– Combat radius of a J-7 III with 2×250 kg bombs and a full set of drop tanks 550 km = 340 miles.
Air-to-ground:
The F-5E had the advantage of the fact that the MK.80 series being aerodynamically superior to the FAB series and its maximum warload of 3200KG was superior to that of the MiGs which amounted to only c.a. 2200-2500 kg. The F-5E also had the extra wingtip hardpoint which has to count as an advantage. Even with FAB-250s the MiG-21 handled badly and with FAB-500s it must have been a handful but this probably had more to do with the suboptimal aerodynamics of the FAB series than any shortcoming of the MiG-21. AFAIK all MiG-21s from the MiG-21PFM forward could carry beam riding air-to- Kh-66 missiles while the F-5E had the Bullpup radio guided misslie. Neither missile was easy to use and both required the aircraft to line up with the target until impact making them vulnerable to FLAK and SAMs and other fighters. The F-5E also had superior range on internal fuel and it could carry more fuel externally by virtue of its wingtip hardpoints. One final advantage of the F-5E is that it had twin engines which contributed to survivability.
Air to air:
I don’t think there is really much to choose from beween the MiG’s twin barreled GSh-23 and the American fighters twin M39 revolver cannon. While the F-5E was limited to the excellent Sidewinder series of heat seekers the MiG-21bis had a more varied selection of air-to-air missiles. At first glance the MiGs R-3R radar guided missile would seem to be an advantage but this missile was of limited use due to it’s short range and inability to engage maneuvering targets. The R-3S also had reliability problems. The R-60 however was more reliable and it gave the MiG-21bis an advantage in that the R-60s launch rail made it possible to carry two missiles on one pylon which went some way toward cancelling out the advantages the F-5E derived from its wing rails. The R-13M was also a very definite improvement over the R-3S. I can’t really compare the Sapfir-21 to the units used on the F-5E since I kon alot less about the American radars than Russian ones. Perhaps somebody else could elaborate? The MiG-21bis also had the Lazure datalink, I don’t know if the F-5E had anything comparable.
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