The People's Liberation Army of China press service has announced that by the end of 2023, they will finally decommission all J-7 aircraft, which are basically a copy of the Soviet MiG-21F-13 fighter that was produced under license at the Chinese military-industrial complex from 1961 to 2013, as Defense Romania reports with reference to the Chinese publication Global Times.
It is noted that the final decommissioning of several hundred aircraft of this type will allow the Chinese Air Force to "optimize" resources in order to increase the number of combat fighters of the 5th generation of the J-20 type. The Chinese J-7 differs from its Soviet "predecessor" in the better placement of fuel tanks, which gives this aircraft better alignment in flight.
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In addition to China, the J-7 fighters are still in service with 11 countries around the world, including Bangladesh, Egypt, North Korea, Iran, Myanmar and Pakistan.
Defense Express adds that according to The Military Balance 2022, the Air Force of the People's Republic of China has up to 350 J-7 aircraft in 12 aviation brigades. As we can understand, the Chinese military has been gradually decommissioning its copies of the MiG-21 until now. Because, for example, as of 2016, the Chinese Air Force had about 500 such aircraft in service.
It is likely that after the final decommissioning, the Chinese military night want to convert their J-7s into drones for "jamming" air defense, as they have already done with their J-6, a copy of the Soviet MiG-19, in 2021.
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