In the middle of the sixties, only the then over 10 years old, slow IL-28RT ‘Beagle’, and MiG-15bisR ‘Fagot-B’ reconnaissance aircraft were available to use to the Czechoslovak People's Army -Air Force Command. There was also a need for a high-speed type that would have been more likely to survive NATO's air defense. Therefore, a reconnaissance version of the MiG-21F-13, the FR, was developed at the Vodochody plant.
Its first test flight was flow non 9th December 1965, with factory tests taking place in April 1966, to include two flights with photo-containers. It could be fitted with two containers with four AFA-39 cameras in each, mounted under-wing, however the modification did not reduce the aircraft original function. Between May 1968 and February 1969, the 47th Reconnaissance Air Regiment received 11 MiG-21FR ‘Fishbed-C’ high-speed reconnaissance aircraft.
At the 10th Electronic Warfare Air Battalion IL-28RTR and IL-14RT aircraft were used for ELINT - electronic intelligence tasks.
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