 During the war, the MiG-21s played a crucial role in giving the IAF air superiority over vital points and areas in the western theater of the conflict.The 1971 war witnessed the first supersonic air combat in the subcontinent when an Indian MiG-21FL claimed a PAF F-104A Starfighter with its GSh-23 twin-barrelled 23 mm cannon.By the time the hostilities came to an end, the IAF MiG-21FLs had claimed four PAF F-104As, two PAF Shenyang F-6, one PAF North American F-86 Sabre and one PAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules.