Aviation has been in my blood and having spent two decades in the Air Force, I would say my first love is fighter jets. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Americans had launched the F15/16 and the Russians were looking for a comparative aircraft. The Russians produced the MIG 29. The cold war was a reality and they produced two fighters that never actually engaged in direct combat.
What was the best plane? It is a question that is not easy to answer. Is it the more sophisticated F 16 or the beefy old Soviet MIG-29? The comparison is of great interest and we find 2 different aircraft. The F16 was always designed as a cost-effective, lightweight multirole jet for the more expensive F-15. In contrast, we have the MIG 29, which was a typical air superiority fighter that didn’t care too much about avionics.
In the West, the 29th appeared with an outstanding performance and a lot of mystery. No one at the time knew about the aircraft’s capability and many wondered if the 29er was really that good.
The Cold War was in full swing, and while the American and Russian planes never engaged in combat, they preyed on the minds of both nations. It was an ego thing and both nations had the concept that my aircraft or weapons systems needed to be bigger and better and this led to a tremendous arms race. In the 1950s and 1960s, the race between the two nations began and the Russians had the MIG-15 to the American F 86. Both aircraft saw combat in the Korean War and at that time the Americans had a slight advantage.
The Russians brought improvements and soon they had the MIG21 and 23. The Americans brought the Phantom F4 and pretty soon the F15 came on the scene and at that time the Russians didn’t have a comparison plane because the 23 was inferior to the 15 and 16.
Lots of research and the MIG 29 appeared on the scene. Americans didn’t know much about this aircraft when it appeared on the scene in 1980, three years after the American 15 and 16 became operational.
As was practical, NATO gave it the name Fulcrum and the Russians called it the MIG 29. The MiG 29 came in two versions A and B. Version A could carry the nuclear bomb and was kept by the Soviet Air Force. The second version was exported to 29 countries from Poland to Burma. More than 629 of these aircraft have been built and to date about 793 aircraft are still in service. India was one of the first nations to purchase the MiG 29 and it is still in service. The Kargil conflict in 1998 was used to lethal effect.
Even now, with tension rising with China, the Indian Air Force has again ordered a substantial number of 29s from Russia and they are on their way.
But in numbers, the 29 is far behind the 15/16. To date, more than 3,000 F 15/16s are in operation around the world, proving that the American aircraft has a larger market.
The MIG 29 is a simple air superiority fighter, but with a price tag of $23.7 million it is $12 million cheaper than the US aircraft. A comparison between the two planes is very interesting. The 29 has a range of about 1,100 miles compared to the 15/16, which is over 4,000, but the 29 was never designed for long-range action. However, it is a force in terms of rate of climb, because it has two engines compared to the single engine on the 15/16. The Russian plane has a speed of Mach 2.25 to the American planes of 2.05, so not much of a difference there.
The MIG has a ceiling of 18,000 m above the American 15,000 aircraft but in terms of sophistication with ECM and ECCM, the American aircraft is superior. The maneuverability of the MIG 29 is absolutely fantastic and you can perform amazing aerobatics and there is something called a Cobra maneuver that the MIG can perform with ease. This is one of the most dazzling maneuvers of the 29er and I can attest to it.
It is a maneuver in which an aircraft flying at a moderate speed suddenly raises the nose momentarily to and slightly beyond the vertical position, momentarily stopping the aircraft and converting it into a full body airbrake, before dropping it back down. to normal, during which the aircraft does not change effective altitude.
last word
People will generally get the feeling that the MIG 29 outperforms the F-16, but there is a catch and that concerns serviceability. It needs a service every 2,500 hours compared to 6,000 for the American plane, and as I have already pointed out, in terms of radar and ECM, the F-15/16 is way ahead of the Russian plane.
The MIG 29 comes with a single GSH 3130 MM gun and four pylons to carry rockets and missiles. The Russian MiG 29A that was not exported can carry a single nuclear bomb.
The Americans were eager to get their hands on a MIG 29 and got it in a very strange way. They bought 21 airworthy MIG 29s from Moldova. Russia was unable to stop the sale and all 29 made their way to the United States and were used by the US Air Force. They disassembled the planes and got all the technical data. The Americans staged a coup by seizing these planes. These are now scattered in American museums throughout the United States.
MIG 29 has seen a lot of combat experience outside of Russia. India bought 66 aircraft and they were used in the Kargil war and Yugoslavia used them in the Kosovo war. They were used in the Iraq-Iran war and eventually saw combat against the very aircraft that was supposed to compete in the Iraq war, the F-16. The Americans claimed to have shot down 6 MIG 29s, but the Russians also claimed several kills which were denied, but that’s part of the game. Never agree with your losses and exaggerate the loss of the enemy. The Indians did not lose a single aircraft in the Kargil conflict.
On a personal level, I have a lot of love for the MiG 29. It is a wonderful plane and you can do wonderful aerobatics with it. It’s a simple air superiority fighter. I have just written this article because in the recent conflict with China, the Indian government has ordered more MIG 29s and they are on the way.
