Every Mikoyan MiG Aircraft Explained | The Complete History of MiG Fighters

Video from the channel Armory Atlas about Mikoyan, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 22:52. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A chronological run-through of the aircraft from the Mikoyan design bureau (MiG), from the 1940 MiG-1 to the interceptor project the press calls the MiG-41. The video gives a brief segment to each model and its main variants, grouped by era: piston engines, early jets, first supersonic generation, MiG-21, variable-geometry wings, high-speed interceptors, MiG-29 family and post-Soviet period.

During World War II, the Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau produced the MiG-1, a high-altitude interceptor with a Mikulin AM-35 engine, and the MiG-3, in service from 1941, which performed worse in the low-altitude combats of the Eastern Front. These were followed by projects such as the twin-engine MiG-5 (DIS) and the experimental 1945 MiG-8 Utka, a canard design. The MiG-9 flew in 1946 and was one of the first Soviet jet fighters. The MiG-13 (I-250) combined a piston engine with a motorjet. The MiG-15, which flew in 1947, was a surprise in the Korean War. The MiG-17 flew in 1950, and the MiG-19, from the mid-1950s, was the first Soviet production fighter supersonic in level flight. Then came the delta-wing MiG-21, the variable-geometry MiG-23 and its ground-attack derivative, the MiG-27.

The MiG-25 was designed to intercept at high speed and altitude, and had reconnaissance and reconnaissance-bomber versions. Its successor, the MiG-31, entered service in the early 1980s and remains in use, modernised as the MiG-31BM. The MiG-29 was created to rival the F-16 and the F/A-18. From it derive the MiG-29SMT, with an enlarged dorsal fuel tank, the MiG-29M, the carrier-based MiG-29K, the thrust-vectoring demonstrator MiG-29OVT and the multirole MiG-35. The post-Soviet period includes the MiG 1.44 (MFI) prototype, the MiG-AT trainer and the MiG-110 light transport aircraft. The video presents the PAK DP, or MiG-41, as a concept many of whose details remain speculative.