Mikoyan MiG-29

In 1969 the existence of the United States Air Force's "F-X" program, which would result in the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, became public knowledge. At the height of the Cold War, a Soviet response was necessary to avoid the possibility of a new American fighter gaining a serious technological advantage over existing Soviet fighters, thus the development of a new air superiority fighter became a priority. The Soviet General Staff issued a requirement for a Perspektivnyy Frontovoy Istrebitel (PFI, translating directly as "Perspective Frontline Fighter", roughly "Advanced Frontline Fighter"). Specifications were extremely ambitious, calling for long range, good short-field performance (including the ability to use austere runways), excellent agility, Mach 2+ speed, and heavy armament. The Russian aerodynamics institute TsAGI worked in collaboration with the Sukhoi design bureau on the aircraft's aerodynamics.

However, in 1971 Soviet studies determined the need for different types of fighters. The PFI program was supplemented with the LPFI (Perspektivnyy Lyogkiy Frontovoy Istrebitel, or "Advanced Lightweight Tactical Fighter") program; the Soviet fighter force was planned to be approximately 33% PFI and 67% LPFI. PFI and LPFI paralleled the USAF's decision that created the "Lightweight Fighter" program and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and Northrop YF-17. The PFI fighter was assigned to Sukhoi, resulting in the Sukhoi Su-27, while the lightweight fighter went to Mikoyan. Detailed design work on the resultant Mikoyan Product 9, designated MiG-29A, began in 1974, with the first flight taking place on 6 October 1977. The pre-production aircraft was first spotted by United States reconnaissance satellites in November of that year; it was dubbed Ram-L because it was observed at the Zhukovsky flight test center near the town of Ramenskoye. Early Western speculations suggested that the Ram-L was very similar in appearance to the YF-17 and powered by afterburning Tumansky R-25 turbojets.

Specifications (

MiG-29)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 17.37 m (57 ft)
• Wingspan: 11.4 m (37 ft 3 in)
• Height: 4.73 m (15 ft 6 in)
• Wing area: 38 m² (409 ft²)
• Empty weight: 11,00 0 kg (24,250 lb)
• Loaded weight: 15,300 kg (33,730 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 20,000 kg (44,100 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × Klimov RD-33 afterburning turbofans, 8,300 kgf (81.4 kN, 18,300 lbf) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: M ach 2.25 (2,400 km/h, 1,490 mph) At low altitude: Mach 1.25 (1,500 km/h, 930 mph)
• Range: 1,430 km (772 nmi, 888 mi) with maximum internal fuel^[124]
• Ferry range: 2,100 km (1,300 mi) with 1 drop tank
• Service ceiling: 18,013 m (59,100 ft)
• Rate of climb: initial 330 m/s average 109 m/s 0–6000 m^[125] (65,000 ft/min)

• 

  Wing loading: 442 kg/m² (90.5 lb/ft²)
• T hrust/weight: 1.08

Armament

• 1 x 30 mm GSh-30-1 cannon with 150 rounds
• 7 Hard points: 6 x pylons under-wing, 1 x under fuselage
• Up to 3,500 kg (7,720 lb) of weapons including six air-to-air missiles — a mix of semi-active radar homing (SARH) and AA-8 "Aphid", AA-10 "Alamo", AA-11 "Archer", AA-12 "Adder", FAB 500-M62, FAB-1000, TN-100, ECM Pods, S-24, AS-12, AS-14

Avionics

• Phazotron N019, N010 radars