A bunch of people are asking about the music. The majority of the music is licensed from Epidemic Sound www.epidemicsound.com and sometimes we will create our own incidental music (like a few cues in this video). There are three of us who do production, all musicians, and one of us has scored music for film, so we might create our own incidental music now and then when we have time - but these are not often complete 'pieces', just short cues for a particular spot in the video.
@@raafdocumentaries I lived in U.S.S.R and Russia 33 years (1976-2009) my father worked Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and was diplomat in Moscow for MiG 23 ..
Very true but, imagine if it was built with the nose of the Mig 21 but sleeker.. imagine if it had just one powerful engine with two tails. That would be awesome.👍😍
They say it was price that killed it. Mig-29's bill of ownership was was about 80% of Su-27. It was too expensive to exist next to Su-27. There was single engine version in development, called Izdeliye 33 which would be less capable, but much more balanced. A true successors to Mig-21.
MiG-27 doar că nu știu cît costă întreținerea aripilor. Noi mai avem cîteva MiG-29 dar nu sunt zburate, MiG-27 ar permite macar cîtiva piloți să fie antrenați și să poată patrula. ☹️
it was doctrine. soviet union only wanted 2 engine fighters. indeed if single engine fighter would be made and share the same engine as flanker that could gain big export numbers.
Super information as always. I recall seeing a Russian general commenting on the Mig 29 - "the Mig 29 programme cost was 30% less than the Su 27 but with half the performance". The engines had a habit of exploding unexpectedly. They are super smoky - a dead giveaway on location. Also you are going to be strapping on a fuel tank to go anywhere. The Mig 29 was meant to protect the airfields and bases. Hence it's short range. I recall seeing it at farnborough when they were there the 1st time in the early 1990s. It was quite the exciting guest.
I was at that farnborough air show (1991 I think?) as well, standing next to some American fighter pilots. Even they were impressed by its fly by performance! It wasn’t nearly as smoky as the Backfire bomber that was also at the show however…
@@carlbillingham2670 New 29s don't smoke nearly as much. Smoke is caused by the wear of the fuel injectors, which would cause fuel mixture to be slightly richer than it needs to be and result in the burn of the excess fuel. It doesn't affect thrust and only happens on military power Su-27 also smokes, but only during rapid throttle changes, due to specifics of the fuel system, where it will dump some of the fuel to avoid pressure spikes
Interesting that all Russian hardware is defensive or only meant to patrol in very limited range near Russia... Yet we're constantly told Russia is aggressive. Meanwhile the US has global power projection, invades everyone everywhere, topples governments, uses CIA to fund protests and coups and the Us, we're always told, is peaceful.
I remember that the British Harrier test pilot John Farley asked the Russian reps at its first visit to England about its handling characteristics and it turned out that a few of them recognised him and offered him a flight! He loved it. Especially at low speeds
There's a fabtastic interview here on TH-cam with an American pilot who got to log many hours in the Mig while doing a pilot exchange in India. He said much of the same. Very touchy. Very dangerous. Very rough in fit, finish, and avionics. He said its covered in roug looking rivets and was intimidating to get in such an unrefined beast. Sketchy. He did say it was very capable once he got used to it.
One important advantage the MiG-29 had early on was its IRST system. As a short range defensive dogfighter this would be pretty useful, especially when being guided to the fight by ground based radar.
@@engrfka probably because potential buyers wanted the SU 27 - 35 series. It certainly didn’t flop because it was a bad aircraft. It flopped simply because it was not able to pay for itself. There are many US and French fighters for instance that suffered the same fate.
yeah, they ran out of money. A lot of the money for development of the SU-30 and other Su-27 variants came from India and other export customers. But the Mig wasn't supported by the export market as much.
Excellent video, narration, language, visuals, music.. the only thing that I could comment on would be the difference in music volume at certain transition points which took one by surprise eg.2:32, 4:30 Otherwise superb
I think had the MiG-29 been more like the MiG-35, that plane would have sold in very large numbers. It's actually a quite maneuverable plane, and with the MiG-35's modern avionics, a very potent interceptor.
@@Sacto1654 Sukhoi political dominance post-Soviet Union ensured most funding for development and upgrades went towards them. MiG-35 rough equivalent could've come into existence as early as the mid-to-late 90s otherwise.
@@sarah07290 One thing that happened was that China was VERY interested in a long-range fighter. MiG-29 didn't fit what they wanted, and Sukhoi were fast in developing a (significantly avionically-simplified) Su-27SK and later Su-30K and MK. Interestingly the upgraded MiG-29M was in the works since around 1990 and if it went into production it'd have been called MiG-33. Lighter stronger airframe, latest mission avionics, uprated engines, A2G smart weapons capability, long-range A2A missile capability. The country didn't have money to fund all that.
It should have been fitted with a PESA radar from the word go, and had at least 2 more weapons pylons. As it stands it was limited heavily by its short range, anemic weapons load, and outdated radar in both ari superiority, point defence and ground attack roles.
The MiG-29 was awesome when introduced. It could out-maneuver its Western counter-parts, and had an innovative IR Search-Track system with LASER rangefinder that provided fire control inputs for its gunsight. That IRST also worked well when ECM degraded RADARs or against low-altitude targets. Despite what is presented here, in a turn it easily out-performed the F-16/F-18, visually "translating aft" on the Americans' cockpits. Its helmet sight and R-73 missile gave it an enormous advantage in visual range combat. It's weakness was in BVR (Beyond Visual Range) combat, but the F-16 sucked at that at the time as well and the F-18 wasn't much better with only Sparrow missiles at that point. It "died" as a design because the USSR went bankrupt and stopped developing it. The F-16/F-18 went on to get AMRAAM missiles and better RADARs while the Fulcrum didn't get serious BVR capability until the Su-35 variant. When introduced, though, it literally flew circles around the F-16 & F-18.
A very good documentary, good narrative and very positive information. The MiG-29 is a legend and a very good fighter, with a large potential to be upgraded yet. Congratulations for the video.
You forgot to add that from the very beginning the MiG-29 had a significant advantage over the F-16A in terms of avionics and armament - it had an OLS infrared target detection system and R-27 medium-range missiles in two R and T versions.
Great and objective documentation, one addition tough, the R-73 scared the Nato once Germans found out how capable it was in combination with the helmet cuing system on the Mig-29.
And now Russia has reduced the number of MiG-35 ordered to just 6! No foreign orders have ever materialized either. It looks like the end of the road for the MiG-29.
Original plane for it was to have AESA, and none of the new-build Fulcrums include it. Zhuk-AM radar isn't known to be ready for mass production, which makes MiG-35 still-born in terms of exports.
5:50 Chiming in to point out that the F-16 wasn't originally wired to use semi active radar missiles, which would had been a pretty big disadvantage before reaching the merge.
I first saw one on a runway in Peru. Holy shit what a beautiful aircraft ..... I couldn't stop staring at them - those things looked like they were moving standing still
AMAZING documentary ; I want netflix to adapt an ANIME on this with the protagonist being the son of the pilot for Mig 29 is secretly allowed to fly with his father and gets trained on the most RAW heptic feedback manual flying BEAST of a fighter plane.
Thank you again for an unbiased and insightful video. I acknowledge the flaws of this machine, however I have a soft spot for it. Its downsides could've been mitigated earlier, if MiG bureau and the country's economy were in better shape. I love the rough appearance of earlier versions of MiG-29 and I love the polish of MiG-35, which has a little F-15 vibe to it imo.
Wonderful footage and super 80s sound track. Agree it has unrealized potential. Great base design but bad timing. The R77 capability on the C/S varients is a big jump in capability, something early Flankers lacked.
Man, I can't get over how good the MiG-29 and Su-27(+) series look. Beautiful planes. Sad that we're being ushered into the 5th/6th era...no longer will we see attractive combat aircraft.
F-16 & MiG-29 are like the F-86 & MiG-15 of the modern era. Tho MiG-29 I think is the superior of the two, the only issue is that it nvr got the love of future upgrades the same way the F-16 did.
i dont think much would change. for export it would need to be single engine aircraft. maybe even share engine with flanker for common parts. that would make it way cheaper and attractive for export. giving more money for development too
Unlikely. The Mig-29 Fulcrum is roughly equal to the F-18 Hornet, while the Su-27 Flanker is about the size and capability of an F-15 Eagle. For the price and capability --because the Sukhois can carry a LOT including nuclear bombs-- it's more cost-effective to just buy Sukhois.
I doubt much changes because the reson the mig-29 preformed so poorly in iraq and serbia wasent one of airframe the mig-29 gave the f-15 like 3 near losses during the gulf war it was factors like awacs more airframes in the sky better ew and better command and control that leqd to the f-15/f-16 being better in iraq and serbia i really isnt about the plane if you fliped the sides the iraqis having the f-15 and the us having the mig-29 the results whould be the same many mig-29 f-1 etc were shot down before they even saw there killers due to awacs spotting the long in advance and the radars being jammed
your 100% right . . . the MIG-29M3 multi role air dominance fighter potential has been plagued by reliability issues regardless of it's advancements . . . the MIG-29M3 multi role air dominance fighter is more like a talented son or daughter suppressed by his/her parents preference for his older brother/sister instead of equality between both sons/sisters . . .
In the mid 80s it was an superb fighter, but F-22s would dumpster it, and F15E/F16block 52 are significantly more versatile. Ultimately it had the potential to develop into a high capability multirole aircraft that would have been cheaper and more efficient than Su27, this potential was never realized however.
1:39 Small quibble, but the F-16 didn't replace the F-5 in US service-- the US didn't use the F-5 in any front line roles. It replaced the F-4s, F-105s and F-106s just as the F-15 variants had, only in more significant numbers to generate the mass the F-15 wasn't able to because of it's cost and complexity before, ironically, morphing into an equally complex platform in the 90s.
@@cheekibreeki4638 Yep, a pair of deployments in '65 and once more for just over a year from '66-'67, and that was really just a deployment for combat evaluation and to market it to the MAP partners. When they were done they were transferred to South Vietnam. That was literally the only time the US used it in a front line role. And even then, that was 13 years before the first few F-16s trickled into service in 1980.
Like the Viper though the Fulcrum is a stunning Aircraft in it's time and when it first appeared it created a shock as to what The Soviets had produced and the leaps they'd made.
So the Automatic Flight Control System is Russian parlance for Autopilot. It was a system with links to Ground Control for GCI. What that system did NOT do was limit the aircraft performance. MiG-29 used traditional hydromechanical flight control system and the aircraft was statically neutral, rather than unstable. Making a Statically Unstable plane almost always required a Fly-By-Wire, since lack of stability would increase the pilot workload. However that causes a decrease in available pitch authority and reduction in maneuvering response. One thing early F-16A didn't have was the BVR capability. MiG-29 could carry and fire R-27R and R-27T medium-range missiles which placed F-16 at a big disadvantage. Only introduction of Block-15 OCU and F-16C helped with that. Regarding MiG-29M, the program started in late-80s-early-90s. The sharp LERXs, uprated engines, lightened and strengthened airframe, increased fuel capacity, Zhuk radar with slotted planar array (current standard of the time) with phase steering in elevation, smart weapons such as anti-radiation missiles of Kh-31 family, even lengthened fuselage, were all in the works. Non-lengthened aircraft flew in 1993. I had a book which covered it rather extensively. They even planned to used fly-by-wire in it. The program never went to production at the time for economic reasons. One thing that played against MiG-29 in the export market was the cost of maintenance thanks to the twin-engine design. Soviet Air Force has made a very questionable doctrinal decision to only use twin-engine fighters for reasons of combat and operational survivability and redundancy. Economic considerations were not a thing at the time for them, and that caused a whole lot of issues for the aircraft when it went on sale outside USSR and costs were suddenly a significant consideration. There WAS a project of a single-engine variant during the development of the MiG-29, but that didn't go ahead.
If a plane is a good climber, fast, maneuverable and large enough for a decent radar, it's good. It's just as simple as that. One can't blame MiG designers for the fall of the Soviet Union and the lack of overdue upgrades.
the west german Mig29 squad existed for +-10y and was one of the most experienced squad, because they were asked to play the enemy and they won many dogfights in the US against many experienced NATO pilots. I am not sure, but I would not be surprised if these german Mig29 were not also Mig29 of the NVA before. So it was not just a testing phase.
With the new Fulcrum M variant it's still a lethal air to air fighter. Also, this airframe can climb to the edge of space if the Russian's figure out someway to incorporate carbon composit glide vehicle's to it that will become a game changer in combat.
The Mig 29 was excellent for it's intended role with frontal aviation. The second factor was that although it could engage beyond visual range it lacked the computer assisted weapon cueing and guidance. The F-16A when compared to a late model F-16 are almost completely different in capability. The F-16 also benefitted from Western computer advantages and also the sheer scale of the numbers in service world wide.
Until F-16 received AMRAAMs it didn't have particularly good BVR capability either. Sparrow was SARH just like R-27. Having said that R27 had IR seeker version too. Both needed to be guided by computer on board of the MiG
In the late 80s through to 2000 Australia had an agreement with Malaysia to have a squadron of F/A-18s based at Malaysia three months of the year. this usually resulted in a long exercise deployment of usually 6 weeks for two of the fighter squadrons. Until 1995 it was pretty much a turkey shoot against their F5s. Then in 95 the RMAF got Mig-29s. The RAAF found that the Mig-29 was very hard to beat in a visual range fight, but they were woefully inadequate against the Hornet in BVR fights, the Hornets APG-65 and associated avionics was far superior to the Migs suite. The rule was, dont get in a visual range fight with the Mig-29. It was well known the Hornet was range compromised, but the Mig-29 was even worse!
Actualy it reached peak with newest version but issue is radar for modern times..but they stopped production cause newest types .if some country Had like 100 of newest versions with radar missile and freshly made,would be decent defence..
Russia realized that it would need as many 4 generation aircraft as possible that would be good enough for what was most important to stop a massive attack at once, and that is why Russia decided to get the most out of the MiG-29 aircraft given the amount of aircraft it needed and therefore began mass production of the MiG-35 SM. At least that's what it was said that in 2025 mass production of the MiG-35 will be launched, I think that's the best Russia can do at the moment.
According to DDR Pilots, the internal fuel capacity was so abysmal, that you could almost not afford using the full AB in short range combat - the 2 engines sucked the tanks empty in no time, so you better stayed very close to your base.. and with external tanks, well - G forces....
Thank you lord almighty for making someone make this video 😭😭😭.The MIG 29 is such a mistreated fighter. If the lord would have given me the resources I would've given it a new fly by wire system new radar new engine new display setup new advanced avionic new advanced everything I would've given the latest technology and make the true fighter it was destined to become😭😭😭😭
MiG-29 was literally designed to fire the R-73 with HMTS.... Yet on WT they decided "eh... We'll give it R-60 and save the 73 for the worse version of the Fulcrum"...
Another reason to prioritize the Su-27 platform over the MiG-29 might be the fact that the MiG-29 systems may had been considered more "compromised" both by the collapse of the Soviet Union allowing its evaluation by NATO countries and due to the whole Adolf Tolkachev espionage operation. Though IIRC the USA still manage to get ex-Belarus Su-27 in the 90's
i really love how the US went full sicko mode when they got startled by the Foxbat, when they got their hands on it they were disappointed and now the US owns the skies thanks to the alarm the Foxbat gave them.
A bunch of people are asking about the music. The majority of the music is licensed from Epidemic Sound www.epidemicsound.com and sometimes we will create our own incidental music (like a few cues in this video). There are three of us who do production, all musicians, and one of us has scored music for film, so we might create our own incidental music now and then when we have time - but these are not often complete 'pieces', just short cues for a particular spot in the video.
The music is sweet in any case, kudos.
Mikoyan was dead when the MiG-29 was designed. This plane was created by Ukrainian engineers.
I wish you never added any, or at least made it a BACKGROUND music, not the DISTRACTION music.
@@raafdocumentaries I lived in U.S.S.R and Russia 33 years (1976-2009) my father worked Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and was diplomat in Moscow for MiG 23 ..
cool!
Look... say what you will... but.
The Mig-29 airframe is BEAUTIFUL.
Very true but, imagine if it was built with the nose of the Mig 21 but sleeker.. imagine if it had just one powerful engine with two tails. That would be awesome.👍😍
So what that's not what determines a top fighter
They say it was price that killed it. Mig-29's bill of ownership was was about 80% of Su-27. It was too expensive to exist next to Su-27. There was single engine version in development, called Izdeliye 33 which would be less capable, but much more balanced. A true successors to Mig-21.
Also, the MiG-29 wasn't suited for easy upgrades. While Su-27 was designed from the start to be easy to upgrade.
MiG-27 doar că nu știu cît costă întreținerea aripilor. Noi mai avem cîteva MiG-29 dar nu sunt zburate, MiG-27 ar permite macar cîtiva piloți să fie antrenați și să poată patrula. ☹️
it was doctrine. soviet union only wanted 2 engine fighters. indeed if single engine fighter would be made and share the same engine as flanker that could gain big export numbers.
@@DIREWOLFx75 Check MiG-29M (9-15)
@@jebise1126 That can't be right; USSR produced and flew the Mig-21 and the Mig-23.
The 1980s music was a beautiful touch. Thanks! Great video.
@trumanhw indeed! Thanks for the reminder of a Concorde doco (on YT) with Oxygene playing.
@@trumanhw check "paperskies " Ukrainian guy does videos on Soviet airforce, his earlier videos have the same music choice.
He got some Great videos
Sounded like Matrix Revolutions to me, when they enter Sion and we see it for the first time.
I came down here to write the same.
Anyone knows name of the track/music?
I appreciate how the briefing is geared toward an informed viewer.
Yes!. If a term or concept is unfamiliar, you simply look it up, leading to expansion of understanding.
This channel is going to blow up as soon as the TH-cam algorithm finds it.
Super information as always. I recall seeing a Russian general commenting on the Mig 29 - "the Mig 29 programme cost was 30% less than the Su 27 but with half the performance". The engines had a habit of exploding unexpectedly. They are super smoky - a dead giveaway on location. Also you are going to be strapping on a fuel tank to go anywhere. The Mig 29 was meant to protect the airfields and bases. Hence it's short range. I recall seeing it at farnborough when they were there the 1st time in the early 1990s. It was quite the exciting guest.
@@mrrolandlawrence fun fact, Malaysia MiG-29N aerobatic squadron name is Smokey Bandit
I was at that farnborough air show (1991 I think?) as well, standing next to some American fighter pilots. Even they were impressed by its fly by performance! It wasn’t nearly as smoky as the Backfire bomber that was also at the show however…
@@carlbillingham2670 New 29s don't smoke nearly as much. Smoke is caused by the wear of the fuel injectors, which would cause fuel mixture to be slightly richer than it needs to be and result in the burn of the excess fuel. It doesn't affect thrust and only happens on military power
Su-27 also smokes, but only during rapid throttle changes, due to specifics of the fuel system, where it will dump some of the fuel to avoid pressure spikes
Interesting that all Russian hardware is defensive or only meant to patrol in very limited range near Russia... Yet we're constantly told Russia is aggressive. Meanwhile the US has global power projection, invades everyone everywhere, topples governments, uses CIA to fund protests and coups and the Us, we're always told, is peaceful.
Hey bro, "it's" is a contraction of "it is", and "its" is third person neutral possessive.
I remember that the British Harrier test pilot John Farley asked the Russian reps at its first visit to England about its handling characteristics and it turned out that a few of them recognised him and offered him a flight! He loved it. Especially at low speeds
The music set the mood and the video didn't disappoint.
There's a fabtastic interview here on TH-cam with an American pilot who got to log many hours in the Mig while doing a pilot exchange in India. He said much of the same. Very touchy. Very dangerous. Very rough in fit, finish, and avionics. He said its covered in roug looking rivets and was intimidating to get in such an unrefined beast. Sketchy. He did say it was very capable once he got used to it.
This aircraft is like a student in school who has great potential but ignored by everyone
F-4: want a smoke?
MiG-29: Thanks but I got my own
F4?
That's another era.
👏
Great topics on your channel and I enjoy it immensely.
Totally agree 👍
Agreed!
One important advantage the MiG-29 had early on was its IRST system. As a short range defensive dogfighter this would be pretty useful, especially when being guided to the fight by ground based radar.
Our MiG-23MF had it but near front landing gear
@@MrCzarnm even mig25 did iirc, they putted it on everything where it could be even remotely useful. Including tunguskas and tors
@@Сталкер-ь2х MIg-25 didn't have it. Only MiG-31 did.
@@Max_Da_G well shit
Mig-29 is a really good aircraft but I think it's full potential of this airframe is the mig-35
MiG-29M
Annnnnnnnnd MiG 35 flopped so bad that even Russia does not have more than a handful
@@engrfka probably because potential buyers wanted the SU 27 - 35 series. It certainly didn’t flop because it was a bad aircraft. It flopped simply because it was not able to pay for itself. There are many US and French fighters for instance that suffered the same fate.
@@engrfka egypt has more
yeah, they ran out of money. A lot of the money for development of the SU-30 and other Su-27 variants came from India and other export customers. But the Mig wasn't supported by the export market as much.
Star of Ace Combat series and War Thunder.
45 years of MiG-29 "Fulcrum" in 2022 and 30 years of Ace Combat series in 2025.
Nicely done! Folks like to underestimate the Fulcrum, but it is still a very capable aircraft, and more especially so in the MiG-35 variant.
Unrelated question: what is that absolute banger of a song called? I also heard it in the Tigershark video
Let's bump this question up^^
Probably 'Sandstorm.' Darude, always.
The most beautiful aircraft ever made.
@@kalactose348
Super True
Without a doubt 😊
It just look right.
F15, because it does what it says on the tin. Nothing else goes Mach 3 at sea level.
I thought it was just me but,....😊
Excellent video, narration, language, visuals, music.. the only thing that I could comment on would be the difference in music volume at certain transition points which took one by surprise eg.2:32, 4:30 Otherwise superb
I think had the MiG-29 been more like the MiG-35, that plane would have sold in very large numbers. It's actually a quite maneuverable plane, and with the MiG-35's modern avionics, a very potent interceptor.
@@dindrmindr626 He is trying to say that if they had invested in more upgrade programmes for the mig 29 early on it would have been more successful.
Mig-35 is a advanced variant of Mig-29 that removed its known pitfals.
@@Sacto1654 Sukhoi political dominance post-Soviet Union ensured most funding for development and upgrades went towards them. MiG-35 rough equivalent could've come into existence as early as the mid-to-late 90s otherwise.
@@sarah07290 One thing that happened was that China was VERY interested in a long-range fighter. MiG-29 didn't fit what they wanted, and Sukhoi were fast in developing a (significantly avionically-simplified) Su-27SK and later Su-30K and MK.
Interestingly the upgraded MiG-29M was in the works since around 1990 and if it went into production it'd have been called MiG-33. Lighter stronger airframe, latest mission avionics, uprated engines, A2G smart weapons capability, long-range A2A missile capability. The country didn't have money to fund all that.
It should have been fitted with a PESA radar from the word go, and had at least 2 more weapons pylons.
As it stands it was limited heavily by its short range, anemic weapons load, and outdated radar in both ari superiority, point defence and ground attack roles.
The MiG-29 was awesome when introduced. It could out-maneuver its Western counter-parts, and had an innovative IR Search-Track system with LASER rangefinder that provided fire control inputs for its gunsight. That IRST also worked well when ECM degraded RADARs or against low-altitude targets. Despite what is presented here, in a turn it easily out-performed the F-16/F-18, visually "translating aft" on the Americans' cockpits. Its helmet sight and R-73 missile gave it an enormous advantage in visual range combat. It's weakness was in BVR (Beyond Visual Range) combat, but the F-16 sucked at that at the time as well and the F-18 wasn't much better with only Sparrow missiles at that point. It "died" as a design because the USSR went bankrupt and stopped developing it. The F-16/F-18 went on to get AMRAAM missiles and better RADARs while the Fulcrum didn't get serious BVR capability until the Su-35 variant. When introduced, though, it literally flew circles around the F-16 & F-18.
Exactly what I wanted to say 👍
A very good documentary, good narrative and very positive information. The MiG-29 is a legend and a very good fighter, with a large potential to be upgraded yet. Congratulations for the video.
Excellent, thank you for the overview of the MIG-29, and its subsystems.
Great short doc, love the 80s era soundtrack 👌
Love the 80's background music together with the retro footage
You forgot to add that from the very beginning the MiG-29 had a significant advantage over the F-16A in terms of avionics and armament - it had an OLS infrared target detection system and R-27 medium-range missiles in two R and T versions.
Not many people actually realize that. It's not commonly known.
MiG 35 is such a good looking plane
This video is incredibly high-quality with in-depth detail. Kudos for this video❤️🤘🏾
Great and objective documentation, one addition tough, the R-73 scared the Nato once Germans found out how capable it was in combination with the helmet cuing system on the Mig-29.
Most beautiful aircraft have ever created
I'm sorry to admit that the music was the coolest part of the video. Great stuff
This soundtrack, and the channel in general, brings me back to Discovery Wings!
And now Russia has reduced the number of MiG-35 ordered to just 6! No foreign orders have ever materialized either. It looks like the end of the road for the MiG-29.
Original plane for it was to have AESA, and none of the new-build Fulcrums include it. Zhuk-AM radar isn't known to be ready for mass production, which makes MiG-35 still-born in terms of exports.
5:50 Chiming in to point out that the F-16 wasn't originally wired to use semi active radar missiles, which would had been a pretty big disadvantage before reaching the merge.
Very cool to have the thumbnail be an East German MiG-29
The best looking piece of art made by humanity. I adore MiG-29
Amazing vid and music 💪
In my opinion the must beautiful fighter in the world. We make in Romania a MIG 29 variant call Sniper, but was ded before a real production.
This has to be the best military channel ever created period. Loyal viewer from the US here.
excellent video. Thank you
Need a list of tracks used in this video!
Code Red Rijko and Daytona Dystopia Dylan Sitts thats what i have found.
I first saw one on a runway in Peru. Holy shit what a beautiful aircraft ..... I couldn't stop staring at them - those things looked like they were moving standing still
Mig 29 really shows that it's the pilot skills and not the aircraft
AMAZING documentary ; I want netflix to adapt an ANIME on this with the protagonist being the son of the pilot for Mig 29 is secretly allowed to fly with his father and gets trained on the most RAW heptic feedback manual flying BEAST of a fighter plane.
very good video with the music and all thanks
Thank you again for an unbiased and insightful video. I acknowledge the flaws of this machine, however I have a soft spot for it. Its downsides could've been mitigated earlier, if MiG bureau and the country's economy were in better shape. I love the rough appearance of earlier versions of MiG-29 and I love the polish of MiG-35, which has a little F-15 vibe to it imo.
Check out MiG-29 version 9-15.
@@Max_Da_G I have one near my place, standing on a pedestal. Checked it out at in my childhood.
That was a great video.
The true enthusiasts' channel. Thanks for unbiased consideration and Privet from Russia
Cool video!
What's the current condition of Australian military jet production? Any aviation production?
MiG-29 biggest problem has always been lack of range. Point defense was its only virtue.
Great video, the last piece of music sounded very much like one from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack.
Wonderful footage and super 80s sound track. Agree it has unrealized potential. Great base design but bad timing.
The R77 capability on the C/S varients is a big jump in capability, something early Flankers lacked.
It COULD use extended-range R-27s from Flankers
Man, I can't get over how good the MiG-29 and Su-27(+) series look. Beautiful planes. Sad that we're being ushered into the 5th/6th era...no longer will we see attractive combat aircraft.
Su-30SM2 is a beautiful aircraft. ❤️
Wait until its complete model makes an appearance: full Su-35S avionics suite, AL-41F1S engines (or if we are lucky AL-41F1), wider weapons array.
God damned gorgeous plane too, only edged out by its Sukhoi cousion
F-16 & MiG-29 are like the F-86 & MiG-15 of the modern era. Tho MiG-29 I think is the superior of the two, the only issue is that it nvr got the love of future upgrades the same way the F-16 did.
If only the MiG-29M was put into production/service before the fall of Soviet Union, then perhaps it would not be such a failure on export market 😕
i dont think much would change. for export it would need to be single engine aircraft. maybe even share engine with flanker for common parts. that would make it way cheaper and attractive for export. giving more money for development too
Unlikely. The Mig-29 Fulcrum is roughly equal to the F-18 Hornet, while the Su-27 Flanker is about the size and capability of an F-15 Eagle.
For the price and capability --because the Sukhois can carry a LOT including nuclear bombs-- it's more cost-effective to just buy Sukhois.
I doubt much changes because the reson the mig-29 preformed so poorly in iraq and serbia wasent one of airframe the mig-29 gave the f-15 like 3 near losses during the gulf war it was factors like awacs more airframes in the sky better ew and better command and control that leqd to the f-15/f-16 being better in iraq and serbia i really isnt about the plane if you fliped the sides the iraqis having the f-15 and the us having the mig-29 the results whould be the same many mig-29 f-1 etc were shot down before they even saw there killers due to awacs spotting the long in advance and the radars being jammed
Once heard it said that when 1st intoduced into service its range was so short that it was a fighter designed to defend its own airbase
your 100% right . . . the MIG-29M3 multi role air dominance fighter potential has been plagued by reliability issues regardless of it's advancements . . . the MIG-29M3 multi role air dominance fighter is more like a talented son or daughter suppressed by his/her parents preference for his older brother/sister instead of equality between both sons/sisters . . .
Thanks for review! Great plane! Beautyfull plane!
And it's a beautiful bird, aesthetically pleasing.
Hell yeah, BIG JET!!!
The music is top notch can some give me the links pls :) !!
the soundtrack, please!!! where can I find it?
What an incredible aircraft.
In early years F16 wouldnt fair good. No BVR missiles on 16A and 29 had helmet sight. In the end thats what German 29s showed in training fights.
In the mid 80s it was an superb fighter, but F-22s would dumpster it, and F15E/F16block 52 are significantly more versatile.
Ultimately it had the potential to develop into a high capability multirole aircraft that would have been cheaper and more efficient than Su27, this potential was never realized however.
Excellent channel.
what is the thing with the pre flight routine of following the leader with a model plane in hand? couldn't find anything in the internet
1:39 Small quibble, but the F-16 didn't replace the F-5 in US service-- the US didn't use the F-5 in any front line roles. It replaced the F-4s, F-105s and F-106s just as the F-15 variants had, only in more significant numbers to generate the mass the F-15 wasn't able to because of it's cost and complexity before, ironically, morphing into an equally complex platform in the 90s.
The F-5C did see some service in vietnam.
@@cheekibreeki4638 Yep, a pair of deployments in '65 and once more for just over a year from '66-'67, and that was really just a deployment for combat evaluation and to market it to the MAP partners. When they were done they were transferred to South Vietnam. That was literally the only time the US used it in a front line role. And even then, that was 13 years before the first few F-16s trickled into service in 1980.
it replaced the F-5 as the US export fighter, the US wanted to keep the F-15 for themselves, so they made the F-16 to export.
Like the Viper though the Fulcrum is a stunning Aircraft in it's time and when it first appeared it created a shock as to what The Soviets had produced and the leaps they'd made.
I've seen the Mig 35 in maks airshow, impressive aircraft!
some upgrades to its design and paint material and engine can lower its RCS aswell like the check mate r atleast adding the hardpoints
The MiG 29 did its job. Yea the avionics could’ve been better but it shocked the world when it made its debut.
MIG -29 MUST BE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLANE EVER CONCEIVED.
So the Automatic Flight Control System is Russian parlance for Autopilot. It was a system with links to Ground Control for GCI. What that system did NOT do was limit the aircraft performance. MiG-29 used traditional hydromechanical flight control system and the aircraft was statically neutral, rather than unstable. Making a Statically Unstable plane almost always required a Fly-By-Wire, since lack of stability would increase the pilot workload. However that causes a decrease in available pitch authority and reduction in maneuvering response.
One thing early F-16A didn't have was the BVR capability. MiG-29 could carry and fire R-27R and R-27T medium-range missiles which placed F-16 at a big disadvantage. Only introduction of Block-15 OCU and F-16C helped with that.
Regarding MiG-29M, the program started in late-80s-early-90s. The sharp LERXs, uprated engines, lightened and strengthened airframe, increased fuel capacity, Zhuk radar with slotted planar array (current standard of the time) with phase steering in elevation, smart weapons such as anti-radiation missiles of Kh-31 family, even lengthened fuselage, were all in the works. Non-lengthened aircraft flew in 1993. I had a book which covered it rather extensively. They even planned to used fly-by-wire in it. The program never went to production at the time for economic reasons. One thing that played against MiG-29 in the export market was the cost of maintenance thanks to the twin-engine design. Soviet Air Force has made a very questionable doctrinal decision to only use twin-engine fighters for reasons of combat and operational survivability and redundancy. Economic considerations were not a thing at the time for them, and that caused a whole lot of issues for the aircraft when it went on sale outside USSR and costs were suddenly a significant consideration. There WAS a project of a single-engine variant during the development of the MiG-29, but that didn't go ahead.
Dam, the music bangs
Its so powerful I like it
does anyone know what synthwave/retrowave music that was used in this video..?
all warplanes are so cool and different to each other. It's really peak modern humanity.
Mig-29 is the first aircraft to feature helmet mounted sighting system now copied and called as Helmet Mounted Display or HMD for short.
If a plane is a good climber, fast, maneuverable and large enough for a decent radar, it's good. It's just as simple as that. One can't blame MiG designers for the fall of the Soviet Union and the lack of overdue upgrades.
the west german Mig29 squad existed for +-10y and was one of the most experienced squad, because they were asked to play the enemy and they won many dogfights in the US against many experienced NATO pilots. I am not sure, but I would not be surprised if these german Mig29 were not also Mig29 of the NVA before. So it was not just a testing phase.
With the new Fulcrum M variant it's still a lethal air to air fighter. Also, this airframe can climb to the edge of space if the Russian's figure out someway to incorporate carbon composit glide vehicle's to it that will become a game changer in combat.
The Mig 29 was excellent for it's intended role with frontal aviation. The second factor was that although it could engage beyond visual range it lacked the computer assisted weapon cueing and guidance. The F-16A when compared to a late model F-16 are almost completely different in capability. The F-16 also benefitted from Western computer advantages and also the sheer scale of the numbers in service world wide.
Until F-16 received AMRAAMs it didn't have particularly good BVR capability either. Sparrow was SARH just like R-27. Having said that R27 had IR seeker version too. Both needed to be guided by computer on board of the MiG
@@Max_Da_G F-16A/early F-16C actually never carried Sparrows operationally, so it wasn't even capable of BVR
In the late 80s through to 2000 Australia had an agreement with Malaysia to have a squadron of F/A-18s based at Malaysia three months of the year. this usually resulted in a long exercise deployment of usually 6 weeks for two of the fighter squadrons. Until 1995 it was pretty much a turkey shoot against their F5s. Then in 95 the RMAF got Mig-29s. The RAAF found that the Mig-29 was very hard to beat in a visual range fight, but they were woefully inadequate against the Hornet in BVR fights, the Hornets APG-65 and associated avionics was far superior to the Migs suite. The rule was, dont get in a visual range fight with the Mig-29. It was well known the Hornet was range compromised, but the Mig-29 was even worse!
What’s the song at the beginning?
i always loved migs. they are such athletes...
A beautiful and very capable aircraft
Actualy it reached peak with newest version but issue is radar for modern times..but they stopped production cause newest types .if some country Had like 100 of newest versions with radar missile and freshly made,would be decent defence..
Russia realized that it would need as many 4 generation aircraft as possible that would be good enough for what was most important to stop a massive attack at once, and that is why Russia decided to get the most out of the MiG-29 aircraft given the amount of aircraft it needed and therefore began mass production of the MiG-35 SM. At least that's what it was said that in 2025 mass production of the MiG-35 will be launched, I think that's the best Russia can do at the moment.
According to DDR Pilots, the internal fuel capacity was so abysmal, that you could almost not afford using the full AB in short range combat - the 2 engines sucked the tanks empty in no time, so you better stayed very close to your base.. and with external tanks, well - G forces....
Such a cool plane, just like su-27. Imagine them with western electronics.
The 35 is a very pretty airplane
The most beautiful jet fighter
It has the potential if you equip it with modern tech
Thank you lord almighty for making someone make this video 😭😭😭.The MIG 29 is such a mistreated fighter. If the lord would have given me the resources I would've given it a new fly by wire system new radar new engine new display setup new advanced avionic new advanced everything I would've given the latest technology and make the true fighter it was destined to become😭😭😭😭
*Dude... such a fighter exists, it's called MiG-29OVT*
th-cam.com/video/BdVJPZAKAQE/w-d-xo.html
MiG-29 was literally designed to fire the R-73 with HMTS.... Yet on WT they decided "eh... We'll give it R-60 and save the 73 for the worse version of the Fulcrum"...
Another reason to prioritize the Su-27 platform over the MiG-29 might be the fact that the MiG-29 systems may had been considered more "compromised" both by the collapse of the Soviet Union allowing its evaluation by NATO countries and due to the whole Adolf Tolkachev espionage operation. Though IIRC the USA still manage to get ex-Belarus Su-27 in the 90's
i really love how the US went full sicko mode when they got startled by the Foxbat, when they got their hands on it they were disappointed and now the US owns the skies thanks to the alarm the Foxbat gave them.