The Mig-21 was originally built by the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union with a NATO nickname Fishbed. No other jet has had as many planes produced as the Mig-21. Depending on the reference source 8,000 - 13,000 planes of all versions were made in the Soviet Union, under license to allied countries and China without license. A small, fast, agile, dependable and most importantly simple making it easy to turn out great numbers of the plane.
The Syrian Arab Air Force was established in early 1950's. In 1962-63 the first F-13 MiG-21's began to arrive. By 1973 Syria had an air force with over 100 MiG-21 aircraft equipping 10 squadrons. On October 6, 1973, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack against Israel with the hopes of taking back the territory they lost to Israel in 1967 during the 6-Day War. This conflict lasted until October 25, 1973 when a truce was reached.
The MiG-21FL is a downgraded variant of the MiG-21PF and meant for the Third World market. It is has the lesser powerful R11F-300 engine. This variant also lacks the ability to carry RS-2US beam-riding missiles and has the basic version of the RP-21 radar. The FL has a wide chord fin as well as a brake chute fairing.