The same model of jet that inspired the creation of the U.S. Navy's "Top Gun" program (and so popularized, by proxy, such memorable phrases as "kick the tires and light the fires") is now protecting North Korean skies, but it's the airborne equivalent of your grandfather's old Buick — the MiG-21.
Yes, the MiG 21 is no longer the scourge it used to be, especially in the hands of a North Korea (DPRK) wracked to strangulation with international sanctions.
Even Grandpa's Buick is probably in better order than the DPRK's fleet of approximately 150 or so MiG 21 flying jalopies — the country's most numerous fighter jet.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 first appeared in the air in the late-50s, and the Soviets later produced more than 10,000 of them.
In 1963, when the DPRK began building its fleet, the MiG 21 was a total beast in the air, one U.S. F-4 Phantom pilots were wary of encountering over Vietnam.
The MiG had serious advantages in that war, leading the Navy to develop the Top Gun school (pictured).
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.