Page 82 - Combat Aircraft (January 2020)

FIGHTER FOCUS // MIG-29 ‘FULCRUM’

MiG-29M — as the MiG-35, now o ered
for export. Then, in 2014, the MiG-35’s
development program, now redirected to
meet domestic needs, at last secured the
required funding from the Russian MoD.
The rst of a pair of newly built MiG-35s —
Left: Two two-
seat MiG-35UBs referred to as pre-production aircraft and
were delivered to earmarked for use in the type’s exhaustive
the VKS in the end testing and evaluation e ort — took to
of 2018, and the
other four aircraft the air in November 2016. This event,
from the Russian however, was kept out of the public eye
order placed in in anticipation of an o cial unveiling and
August 2018 were
set to be taken blessing from Russia’s all-powerful state
on strength by and military authorities, which eventually
the end of 2019. occurred in January 2017.
This ‘Fulcrum’
is believed to be Upon completion of the development
one of the aircraft and testing e ort, an order for 30-
delivered in late plus examples for the Vozdushno-
2018, shown
with a selection Kosmicheskiye Sily (VKS, Russian
of air-to-surface Aerospace Forces) was originally expected
new Phazotron-NIIR N010 Zhuk multi- development funding allocated to the guided ordinance to be placed in late 2018 or early 2019.
including the
functional radar, which had both air-to-air MiG-29M program. As a consequence, in Kh-38ME and the Such a scenario would allow rst deliveries
and air-to-surface operating modes. the mid-1990s the development e ort Kh-35UE anti-ship to take place by 2020 but, in fact, only
The rst MiG-29M prototype (serial stopped altogether, although it was missile. Alexander six MiG-35s were ordered by the Russian
Mladenov
‘151’) was completed in 1986 and took to eventually revived in the mid-2000s. MoD in August 2018. This initial batch
the air on April 26 that year, with Valery This time the MiG-29M utilized a host of Below: The new is intended for use mainly in the type’s
Menitsky at the controls. This prototype new technologies, the much-improved MiG-35UB for the testing and evaluation campaign, after
VKS presented for
was powered by the old RD-33 engines, ‘Fulcrum’ derivative being touted for both the fi rst time in which a large-scale order could be placed
retained the same analog cockpit as the domestic and export customers. January 2017 is, by the Russian military. According to the
original MiG-29 and lacked the WCS. It in fact, a follow-on latest information released by RAC MiG
derivative of
received its new-generation WCS later MiG-35 for the the well-known in August 2019, the MiG-35 is slated to
on, and in 1991 it began trials of the new Russian military MiG-29K/KUB, complete its exhaustive joint state testing
mission avionics. Today’s MiG-35 is regarded as a very retaining the e ort, currently carried out by the VKS, at
same airframe
That initial prototype was followed by di erent beast from the aircraft wearing structural design, the end of 2021.
a batch of ve pre-series aircraft. The rst the same designation and unveiled for albeit without The MiG-35, showed in public for the rst
of these — serial ‘152’, powered by the the rst time for the public by RAC MiG folding wings time in January 2017, is a new derivative
and tailhook,
new RD-33K and equipped with a full set some 12 years ago, when it was proposed and boasting a of the MiG-29M, ordered by the VKS.
of mission avionics — made its maiden for participation in the Indian MMRCA Russian-made According to RAC MiG director-general Ilya
ight on September 26, 1987. The Soviet tender. In 2005, the ghter manufacturer avionics suite Tarasenko, speaking to the press in June
in order to meet
Air Force, however, stopped purchasing began marketing a company-funded the complex VKS 2019, the rst two MiG-35 ghters from
MiG-29s in 1991, and sharply reduced demonstrator — previously designated specifi cation. UAC the VKS order for six aircraft dating from

Tarasenko has confi rmed that this ‘MiG-35 on steroids’ is seen as a contender

in India’s ongoing tender for the procurement of 110 advanced fi ghters

82 January 2020 // www.Key.Aero

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