MiG-21 fighters, one of the last pieces of Soviet heritage in Romania’s air force, have been retired after more than 60 years.
Romania received its first aircraft in 1962 when it was one of the members of the defunct Warsaw Pact military alliance, which was led by Moscow
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Romania strengthened its ties with the West until it joined NATO in 2004. With the new allies, Romanian forces began to renew their military hardware with Western equipment.
Lacking the resources to acquire new aircraft, the Romanian Air Force began to upgrade the MiG-21, through the LanceR program developed by the Israeli Elbit Systems. From 1992 to 2002, 110 fighters in the Romanian fleet underwent the upgrade, which included digital avionics and longer-range weapons systems.
Well over 11,000 MiG-21s were built in more than 20 variants worldwide. For over six decades it was the fighter aircraft that watched over Romania’s skies. The delivery of the upgraded MiG-21 LanceR variant to the Romanian Air Force started in 1997.
With the accession to NATO in 2004, the upgraded MiG-21 LanceR contributed to NATO Air Policing in Romania. From August to November 2007, Romania deployed four of their MiG-21 LanceR aircraft to lead NATO’S Baltic Air Policing mission.
In 2019, the Romanian Air Force began flying the MiG-21LanceRr alongside the F-16 for Air Policing missions.
With the retirement of the MiG-21 LanceR on May 15 on, the F-16 fleet is taking over this duty and Romania has joined NATO’s F-16 user community.
