Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PF / PFM "Fishbed-D/F"

The MiG-21PF (izdeliye 76, 1961) turned the clear-weather day fighter into an all-weather interceptor. A larger intake cone housed a search radar — RP-9-21 on the first batches, the RP-21 from batch 7 — and the more powerful R11F2-300 engine was fitted. To save weight and space the internal cannon was deleted, leaving the aircraft armed only with missiles.

The MiG-21PFS of 1963 added SPS boundary-layer blowing over the flaps for shorter landings, and the MiG-21PFM of 1964 combined it with the improved RP-21M radar and the SRZO-2 IFF set. Experience showed the need for a gun again, so later PFMs could carry a GP-9 belly pod with a twin-barrel 23 mm GSh-23 cannon, and aircraft built after 1968 were cleared for the Kh-66 air-to-surface missile.

The PF and PFM were built in Gorky and Moscow — the PFM for Soviet units in Gorky in 1964–65 and for export in Moscow from 1966 to 1968 — and served across the Warsaw Pact and with many export customers, including Egypt and North Vietnam.