MiG-21
This picture shows a camouflaged MiG 21 armed with a K-13 (AA2 "Atoll") missile taking off. The K-13 has an infra-red guidance system and a 6 Kg fragmenting warhead. The K-13 was not a very effective or user friendly missile. Its launch conditions put severe limits on the pilot - and it could not be launched while the pilots were engaged in their usual 6-7 G manoeuvres. It was inaccurate to boot, and the MiG-21 was therefore re-equipped with the MATRA Magic missile (below)
This picture (right) shows a close-up of a MiG-21 armed with an R 550 MATRA Magic AAM. This is a highly manoeuvreable dogfight missile with infra-red homing and a range of 500 metres to 7 Km. It can be launched from an aircraft in a 7G turn and the missile itself can perform 50G manoeuvres.
This picture shows a MiG-21 bis firing its cannon. Until this version came almost none of the variants of the MiG-21 had internal cannon armament. This was found to be a great handicap in air-to air combat by the Indian Air Force, and an underbelly strap on cannon was developed for this purpose. With the MiG-21bis came built-in 23mm internal cannon armament which makes an unearthly roar spewing shells at 60 rounds per second.
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