The MiG-21 fighter jet was the most common aircraft in the IrAF and flew over 50 percent of combat sorties launched during the war with Iran. Unsurprisingly, the type attracted a number of attempts at modification. The best-known was the installation of French Matra R.550 Magic Mk. I infrared homing air-to-air missiles (made easier by these being compatible with installations for Soviet-made R-13Ms), and a test-installation of the YakB four-barrel 12.7mm machine gun instead of the usual GSh-23 twin-barrel 23mm cannon. In 1990, there were attempts to develop a remotely piloted variant, and in the 2000s, the IrAF experimented with a single MiG-21 the left side of which was painted in radar-absorbent colour. In 1986, four MiG-21bis were painted as shown here for ‘naval operations’ against IRGC-operated boats and barges on the Shatt al-Arab. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)