S E C T I O N S

Specification:MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum-A’

Powerplant:Two Klimov (Sarkisov) RD-33 turbofans each rated at 49.42 kN dry and 81.39 kN with afterburning. Fuel capacity: Internal fuel 4365 liters; external fuel up to one underbelly and two underwing conformal tanks; no provision for inflight refueling

Dimensions:Wing: Span 11.36 m; aspect ratio 3.4; area 38.00 m2. Fuselage and tail dimensions: Length 17.32m including probe; height 4.73m; tailplane span 7.78m; wheel track 3.10m; wheel base 3.67m. Operational weights: Operating empty 10900 kg; normal take-off 15240 kg as an interceptor; maximum take-off 18500 kg as an attack warplane.

Performance:Maximum speed: Maximum level speed ‘clean’ 2445 km/h or Mach 2.30 at 11000 m and 1300 km/h or Mach 1.06 at sea level; Maximum range: Ferry range 2900 km with three conformal tanks; range 1500 km with internal fuel. Maximum rate of climb at sea level 19800 m per minute; service ceiling 17000m.G limits: +9 below Mach 0.85 and +7 above Mach 0.85.Supersonic: Yes

Crew:Pilot on a K-36DM zero/zero ejector seat

Fixed armaments:One 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 cannon with 150 rounds in the port leading-edge root extension

Disposable armaments:Up to 3000 kg of disposable stores carried on six hardpoints (all under wings); typical loads are six R-60 (AA-8 ‘Aphid’) short-range or R-27 (AA-10 ‘Alamo’) medium-range and four R-60 (AA-8 ‘Aphid’) short-range or R-73 (AA-11 ‘Archer’) close-range AAMs, bombs, cluster bombs, submunition dispensers, multiple launchers for 55 and 80 mm unguided rockets, 240 mm unguided rockets, and other stores.

Electronics & operational equipment: Standard communication and navigation equipment, plus (offensive sensors) RLPK-29 Zhuk ‘Slot Back’ pulse-Doppler multi-mode nose radar collimated with a laser rangefinder, and IRSTS, (fire control and weapons management) HUD and helmet-mounted sight, (defensive sensors and systems) OR-69 Sirena 3 RWR, SZRO-3M ‘Odd Rods’ IFF, upward-firing chaff/flare dispensers in dorsal fin extensions with 60 cartridges, and (navigation) INS

Operators:Cuba (36),USSR (500+), Czechoslovakia (20+), Germany, East (24), India (70), Iran (30+), Iraq (40+), North Korea (30+), Poland (20+), Romania (16), Syria (80), Yugoslavia (16+)

Variants:

MiG-29UB ‘Fishbed-B’: This is the combat-capable conversion and continuation trainer derivative of the ‘Fulcrum-A’ with the fuselage stretched to provide volume for a second seat forward of the original seat under a lengthened canopy. The MiG-29UB retains the IRSTS but is probably fitted with a ranging radar in place of the pulse-Doppler unit of the ‘Fulcrum-A’, and has a length of 17.42 m

MiG-29S ‘Fishbed-C’: This is an electronically upgraded version of the ‘Fulcrum-A’ produced from 1988 with additional equipment (most notably an upgraded nav/attack system using the full-standard Zhuk radar and digital central computer) mainly in a dorsal hump fairing. It is possible that electronic equipment was moved from the lower fuselage to provide additional fuel volume.

MiG-29K ‘Fulcrum-D’: Since late 1989 the USSR has been testing a navalized ‘Fulcrum’ as a posible part of the complement for its navy’s new conventional aircraft carriers. By comparison with the standard land-based ‘Fulcrum-A’, the naval version has strengthened airframe and landing gear, an uprated powerplant of two RD-33K turbofans each rated at 86.30 kNwith afterburning, folding outer wing panels, dogtoothed tailplane halves, an arrester hook, inflight-refueling capability, provision for a ‘buddy’ refueling pack, a steerable and revised IRSTS sensors forward of the cockpit, a radome of revised single-curvature contour, ESM bulges on the leading edges of the wing tips, a recontoured dorsal fairing, no dorsal fin extensions of the typethat in the land-based variant carry upward-firing chaff/flare dispensers, and the replacement of the land-based variants’ inlet doors with retractable grids. The remomval of these doors and their actuators combines with the elimination of the louvers in the LERXes and their associated internal ducting to make significant weight savings and also allow the installation of an extra fuel tank holding some 2550 liters. It was revealed in 1992 that the type had been developed in competition with the larger Sukhoi Su-27K ‘Flanker-B2’, which offers greater range and weapon capability, and that the MiG design had not been selected for production.

MiG-29M ‘Fulcrum Plus’: Under test since 1989, this is the much improved development of the basicMiG-29 with an analog fly-by-wire control system (quadruplex in the longitudinal plane and triplex in the yaw and roll planes) in place of the original mechanical system, a semi-‘glass’ cockpit with a more advanced HUD and two multi-function digital HDDs, enlarged and dogtoothed tailplane halves, dorsal fins of reduced size as they are no longer required to provide the volume for chaff/flare launchers, beefed-up landing gear with heavier-duty brakes, the nose lengthened by about 0.20 m to provide a length of about 17.52 m including the probe, a longer canopy, many MiG-29K features (including the more reliable and more fuel-efficient RD-33K engines together with the revised center section featuring lightweight grids in place of the original door/louver combination), a longer and wider dorsal fairing with a larger air brake and ending in a spade-like section extending aft of the jet nozzles, a modified wing position, more rounded wing tip trailing edges, etc. Other changes have extended the rear center of gravity limit to provide the relaxed stability associated with the fly-by-wire flight control system, and the result is a warplane that is more comfortable to fly as well as offering a greater angle of attack capability, enhanced agility, and improved cruise efficiency. Many other changes have been effected, the most significant of them to the avionics and combat electronics: these include a radar data- processor with four times greater capacity, an improved IRSTS whose supercooled sensors offers much improved acquisition range in association with a collimated TV camera and a more powerful laser rangefinder, the Gardeniya-1-FUE active radar jammer, and a fuselage-mounted chaff/flare launchers with 120 cartridges. The MiG-29M also possesses two additional underwing hardpoints raising the maximum disposable warload to 4500 kg of weapons that can include the optronically guided Kh-29T (AS-14 ‘Kedge’) ASM, Kh-31P (AS-17 ‘Krypton’) anti-radar missile, and a new medium-range AAM. The type has wing leading-edge vortex generators for enhanced maneuverability, and its structure makes a greater use of composite materials and welded aluminium/lithium alloys, the later for reduced weight and greater sealed volume for fuel (increasing maximum capacity to 5700 liters for a standard range of 2000 km and ferry range of 3200 km with one 1500 liter and two 1150 liter external tanks. The lengthened and somewhat modified rear fuselage was probably evolved to shift the center of gravity farther aft (see above), and two other notable features are the reduced cannon ammunition capacity (100 rounds) and the semi-reclining pilot’s seat. The exact NATO reporting designation remains unrevealed, but the type is generally known in Western circles as the ‘Fulcrum Plus’. It was revealed in 1992 that development funding had been curtailed, so it seems unlikely that the model will enter produced unless a major export order is received.

MiG-33 ‘Fulcrum-?’: This type was reported in 1992 as a development of the MiG-29M with two RD-37 turbofans, a new radar and IRSTS combination, a fully ‘glass’ cockpit and a fly-by-wire control system.

special thanks to Luka Baturan