MiG-29 Mikoyan MiG-29 FULCRUM MiG-29 MiG-29 Jane's HOW TO FLY AND FIGHT IN THE FULCRMikoyan MiG-2U9 JON LAKE <*i MiG-29 In the USA for information address: HarperCollinsPublishers Inc. 10 East 53rd Street New York NY 10022 In the UK for information address: HarperCollinsPublishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road Hammersmith London W6 8JB First Published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 1997 1 3579 10 8642 Copyright © Jon Lake ISBN 0 00472144 6 Cover photograph: Artur Sarkisyan (MiG-MAPO) Colour illustrations: John Ridyard and Chris Davey (3-view) Editor: Ian Drury Design: Rod Teasdale Production Manager: David Lennox Colour reproduction byColourscan Printed in Italy by Rotolito All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. MiG-29 CONTENTS 6 INTRODUCTION 16 THE MISSION 44 MiG-29 IN FOCUS 54 US FIGHTER PILOT'S PERSPECTIVE 8O THE USER'S VIEWPOINT 84 FUTURE 'FULCRUM' MftG-29 INTRODUCTION: FIRST APPEARANCES Russia's aviation industry was in an enviable position after World War II. It enjoyed a huge captive market for its products, since the climate and topography of the USSR made reliance on aircraft for defence almost inevitable. With the Cold War raging, the Russian armed forces had a massive requirement for indigenous aircraft types. Furthermore, under a Stalinist command economy, the aviation industry was completely isolated from the disciplines and demands of the free market. When the Russian air forces wanted a new fighter money was no object, and narrow economic competitiveness was an alien concept. Above right: This flying The aviation industry was, as a result, requirement, or where success might bring a suit patch was issued to massively inefficient, overmanned, propaganda coup. OKB personnel bureaucratically bloated and with a Despite this stagnant background, the participating in overseas tremendous duplication of resources. industry managed to produce some truly great airshows like Furthermore, it was subject to a great deal of combat aircraft. None were more impressive Farnborough. The MiG political interference. The aims of a particular than the succession of jet fighters produced winged badge logo is prominent. Five Year Plan were often accorded a higher by the Experimental Design Bureau (OKB) priority than meeting the requirements of the named after Artom Mikoyan, and whose Below: The MiG-29 armed forces, which could hardly turn aircraft proudly bore a suffix formed from the prototype after elsewhere. Initiative was suppressed. There initial letters of the founders' names, Mikoyan retirement to the Air was little scope for aircraft designers to press and Gurevich - MiG. Forces' museum at ahead with their own visions, except where The MiG-15 was in many ways superior to Monino, near Moscow. these coincided with an officially stated the F-86 Sabre, particularly in its armament, INTRODUCTION Left: This aircraft (the 9- 10 prototype) typifies production MiG-29s after installation of the overwing chaff/flare dispensers. and this allowed the Russians to produce the simply flying alongside a co-operating target, Above: Rostislav top-scoring aces of the Korean War. The MiG- and experts bickered as to whether or not the Belyakov remains at the 19 was years ahead of its time, as was the MiG-29 was simply an inferior Soviet copy of helm of the Mikoyan MiG-21, whose basic design was so right that this or that Western fighter - whether what it Design Bureau despite large numbers remain in service to this day, was supposed to have copied was the F-14, advancing age and ill and when modernized with contemporary the F-15, the F/A-1 8 or even the YF-1 7. health. Greatly admired and respected by those avionics the aircraft still represents a potent Intelligence sources suggested that the who meet him, Belyakov threat. The MiG-25 was a superb high speed, aircraft had been seen performing is a legend in his own high altitude reconnaissance platform, and manoeuvres which 'no Western fighter could lifetime, and was the was the only interceptor capable of emulate', but this claim was treated with 'father' of the MiG-29. countering the mighty SR-71 Blackbird. The some scepticism. Many suspected that it was MiG-29 has proved to be probably the OKB's an exaggeration (or an outright fiction) Below: The old and the most impressive product. intended as a justification for the new. A Czech air force When the MiG-29 made its first procurement of more advanced fighters MiG-29 formates with an example of Mikoyan's appearance, intercepted by Swedish fighters and/or weapons by the US forces. previous best-seller, the In fact, the MiG-29 was an entirely original over the Baltic, there was a great deal of MiG-21. The Czech excitement. It was clearly meant to be a design, incorporating many advanced features Republic no longer modern agile fighter, in much the same class not seen in its Western counterparts, and operates the MiG-29, as the F/A-18 Hornet. But in truth, not much actually more aerodynamically advanced than having passed its aircraft can be gleaned from still photographs or by any Western type. There were some broad to Slovakia. INTRODUCTION Above: Carrying similarities with each of the latest Western advance of anything fielded by the aircraft's underwing fuel tanks, fighters, with LERXes like those on the F/A-18, Western contemporaries. one of the Mikoyan widely spaced underslung engines and a But the accusation that Mikoyan had OKB's own MiG-29s is 'lifting body' fuselage like the F-14, and a somehow 'cheated' and had simply copied an seen under escort by wing planform reminiscent of that of the F-15. American fighter proved hard to bury, and Elmendorf-based F-15s Twin tailfins were a common feature to the F- even today, there are those who believe that during the type's first 14, F-1 5, F/A-18 and theYF-17. But in truth, visit to North America, Mikoyan (Russia's foremost fighter design in 1989. The similar size, the MiG-29 was no more a copy of the F/A- bureau) simply refined a configuration which wing-sweep and broad 18 (say) than the Hornet was a copy of the F- American know-how had created. configuration of the two 14 or F-15. Common requirements often lead Six MiG-29s made a goodwill visit to aircraft types is apparent. to common solutions, and in designing a Finland during 1986, where the type's highly agile fighter, it would have been more aerobatic display routine was watched with surprising had Mikoyan not produced a great interest, and just over two years later, in design with some features which resembled September 1988, a pair of MiG-29s became those on the Western aircraft. the first Soviet fighters to be exhibited at a Today, a generation of future combat Western trade show, when they appeared at aircraft share a single-finned, canard Delta the SBAC Farnborough show. At Farnborough, configuration, yet no-one is seriously the Mikoyan OKB's test pilots put on an even suggesting that the Gripen (for instance) is a more spectacular show routine, while on the copy of Rafale or Eurofighter. As the West ground, the type's designers proved learned more of the new Soviet superfighter, surprisingly willing to talk openly about the the truth became clearer, that the MiG-29 was aircraft's characteristics and capabilities. a highly advanced and unique product of a But the controversy continued. Some design team who had done their own maintained that the MiG-29's airshow routine, homework, and who, in some respects, had performed by a lightly loaded machine done it better than had their Western owned by the Bureau, was a 'flashy' counterparts. irrelevance, which-in contradiction of the Certainly the Russians had created an evidence offered to the eyes of anyone who aircraft which was capable of flight at far saw the display-demonstrated no superiority higher angles of attack than any Western type, over the agile F-1 6. Other detractors pointed and which could be flown with confidence to the MiG-29's crude finish in certain areas, into areas of the envelope which were and airily claimed-with not a scrap of normally strictly 'out-of-bounds'. It later evidence-that the aircraft's radar was a crude transpired that the aircraft's weapons system copy of the Hornet's AN/APG-65 or the incorporated some features which were far in Eagle's AN/APG-63. Other onlookers went the INTRODUCTION other way, and seemed to be blinded by the aircraft's undoubted acrobatic prowess. They saw the incredible turn performance, high Alpha and post-stall capabilities of the aircraft, and immediately assumed that it would be unbeatable in air-to-air combat, and believed every word that its designers uttered about the capabilities of the aircraft's avionics. It has taken many years for a more balanced and accurate impression of the aircraft to become accepted. There is now little argument with the fact that the MiG-29 is the most aerodynamically advanced aircraft of its generation, nor with the fact that it is probably the world's best close-in dogfighter. Equally, it is widely recognised that the aircraft's avionics system severely limits its effectiveness in any BVR engagement, and imposes an unhelpful degree of reliance on ground or AWACS control for target sorting, threat prioritization, and other tasks which Western fighter pilots take for granted as automated, onboard functions.