Founded in 1948, the Air Standardization Coordinating Committee (ASCC, today Air and Space Interoperability Council – ASIC) is a multinational body of the member countries USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Among other things, the ASCC assigns code names to all known Soviet / CIS (and Chinese) military aircraft, which are then also binding within NATO. Owing to extensive secrecy and a wide range of deception measures, the allocation of main and sub-versions in the past often reflected the (desired) perception of the West rather than technical reality – which also led to some errors in the case of the MiG-21.
In line with its role as a combat aircraft (= fighter), the code name "Fishbed" given to the MiG-21 begins with the letter "F". When they appeared, the MiG-21 two-seaters were classified as "miscellaneous", which is why their name "Mongol" begins with "M".
| Reporting Name | Version(s) |
|---|---|
| Faceplate | Je-2A (prototype) |
| Fishbed-A | Je-6 (prototype) |
| Fishbed-B | Je-5 (prototype) |
| Fishbed-C | F, F-13 |
| Fishbed-D | PF, PFS, FL |
| Fishbed-E | |
| Fishbed-F | PFM |
| Fishbed-G | PD (prototype) |
| Fishbed-H | R, S |
| Fishbed-J | M, MF, SM |
| Fishbed-K | SMT |
| Fishbed-L | bis LASUR |
| Fishbed-M | |
| Fishbed-N | bis SAU |
| Mongol-A | U |
| Mongol-B | US, UM |