When did the MiG-29 come out?

In the early 1970s the Soviet Air Force was looking for an answer to the new American F-15 and F-16 fighters. The program was split in two: a heavy, long-range fighter, which would become the Su-27, and a lighter one for front-line tactical aviation, assigned to the Mikoyan design bureau. That second aircraft, known internally as Product 9, is the MiG-29.

The first flight took place on 6 October 1977 at the Zhukovsky test airfield, near Moscow. Western satellites had already photographed it at Ramenskoye, which is why for years it was called Ram-L. The flight test program consumed several prototypes; series production began in 1982 at the Moscow plant, and the first operational units were delivered in 1983 to the Kubinka regiment.

The design reflected Soviet doctrine: operate from damaged or unpaved airfields. That's why the air intakes close during taxiing and the engine breathes through louvers on the upper wing surface, a unique feature that keeps it from ingesting debris. Two Klimov RD-33 turbojets gave it a thrust-to-weight ratio above one, and the helmet-mounted sight together with the nose-mounted infrared sensor let it attack without switching on the radar.

Its first public appearance was in 1986, during a visit to Finland, and that same year exports to India began. East Germany, Poland, Iraq, Syria, Cuba and some twenty other countries followed. More than 1,600 were built, and the modernized MiG-29SMT, MiG-29M and the carrier-based MiG-29K versions remain in service with several air forces.