How big is the MiG-29?

The MiG-29 belongs to the "light fighter" category of Soviet doctrine, but "light" is relative: it's a twin-engine aircraft that nearly matches the F/A-18 Hornet in size and clearly surpasses the F-16. Its dimensions answered a specific requirement: fit inside hardened shelters, operate from short runways, and carry two engines for redundancy.

Length is 17.32 meters (56.8 ft) including the pitot tube; without it, the fuselage is around 16.3 meters. The wingspan is 11.36 meters (37.3 ft) and the height to the tip of the two tailfins is 4.73 meters (15.5 ft). The wing has a 38 m² area with 42 degrees of sweep, and the leading-edge extensions that start next to the cockpit house the grilles through which the engines breathe when the main intakes close during taxiing.

The empty weight of the 9-12 version is about 11,000 kg (24,250 lb), and the maximum takeoff weight is 18,000 kg (39,700 lb); later versions, the 9-13 and SMT, with a bulged spine for more fuel, go up to 20,000 kg. The two Klimov RD-33 turbojets produce 81.4 kN (18,300 lb) each with afterburner, allowing it to reach Mach 2.25, about 2,400 km/h at altitude, and climb at over 300 m/s.

An F-16 is 15.0 meters long with a 9.96-meter wingspan; the Su-27, its heavier big brother, reaches 21.9 and 14.7 meters. The F/A-18C, a twin-engine jet of similar size, is 17.1 meters long with a 12.3-meter wingspan. That intermediate size explains its historic weak point, limited range: on internal fuel, the original version's combat radius barely exceeded 700 km, something later modernized variants fixed with extra tanks.