Was the MiG-29 Fighter Overhyped?
While its capabilities were certainly powerful back in the day, the MiG-29 also suffered from serious shortcomings, and these manifested nearly every time it entered combat.
Considered to be the “boogeyman” of the Cold War, the Soviet-designed MiG-29 fighter was arguably overhyped. As the arms race between the USSR and the U.S. was heating up in the post-WWII era, both countries were racing to produce unparalleled capabilities when it came to military systems. From submarines and main battle tanks to air defenses and fighter jets, both the Americans and the Soviets poured resources into potentially being able to out-pace the other.
The MiG-29 was part of this story when it first entered service in the early 1980s. The Soviet-era fighter may have appeared dominant when it was first introduced, but the platform has fallen short of representing the powerhouse of the skies the USSR intended.
The MiG-29- A Formidable Fighter?
Despite the MiG-29’s shortcomings, it still posed a challenge to American fighters during the Cold War. Manufacturer Mikoyan Gurevich went up against competitor Sukhoi to develop prototypes for a new and formidable airframe to replace the aging MiG-23.
Ultimately, Mikoyan was awarded the contract to construct the air superiority fighter. More than 1,600 MiG-29s were produced over the years and the platform is widely considered to be one of the most capable fourth-generation airframes to fly the skies.
The MiG-29, designated by NATO as “Fulcrum,” was one of the first USSR-designed aircraft designed to feature extensively lightweight aluminum-titanium alloys, which was critical for minimizing the overall weight and complexity of the platform. Additionally, these jets achieve high-angle-of-attack capability due to their widely flared wing leading edge root extension. Nations across the globe have recognized the impressive traits embodied by the MiG-29 over the years and have set out to acquire the fighter. Export models of the Fulcrum have been sold to India, Iran, East Germany, Peru, Iraq, Poland, Sudan, Syria and others.
Armament-wise, the Fulcrum was far more advanced than its predecessors. The fighter features seven external weapon hardpoints and is capable of lugging a wide range of weapons, including two R-27 air-to-air medium-range missiles, six R-60 and R-73 air-to-air short-range missiles, air bombs, and unguided rockets. The R-27 medium-range missile is available in two configurations, as detailed by Airforce Technology, “the R-27R, which has a semi-active radar homing head and inertial navigation control with a radio link and the R-27T missile, which is fitted with an infrared homing head. The missile can intercept targets with a speed of up to 3,500 kilometers/ph at altitudes from 0.02-27 kilometers, and the maximum vertical separation between the aircraft and the target is ten kilometers.”
The MiG-29 was Overhyped
While these capabilities were certainly powerful back in the day, the MiG-29 also suffered from serious shortcomings. Perhaps the most glaring issue surrounding the fighter was that it was known to get shot down in combat. In the late 1980s, two Fulcrums flown by Syrian pilots were destroyed in a dogfight with Israeli airplanes.
During Operation Desert Storm in the early 2000s, five Iraqi-flown Fulcrums were taken out. More recently, MiG-29s have been shot down by surface-to-air missiles.
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
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