Mikojan Gurevic MiG29/35 1. díl / Mikoyan Gurevic MiG29/35 part 1

At the time of its creation, the MiG-29 fighter aircraft was synonymous with the technological rise of the USSR military aviation industry. Substantial advances in aerodynamics, a new generation of avionics and sensors, and the increase in performance provided by the new generation of engines made it possible to build an aircraft that significantly expanded the fighter-type flight envelope and allowed the inclusion of hitherto unthinkable agile maneuvers such as headlands. , if it did occur, they constituted a substantial advantage. In addition, the aircraft was able to carry a large amount of weapons and quality sensor and avionics equipment, which was in many respects in the regular service on the east side of the Iron Curtain introduced on a large scale for the first time. From the beginning, the aircraft deserved a lot of attention from Western intelligence services and air forces, as it was one of the first types in which it was possible to infer from the initial incomplete information at least at least equivalent to Western rivals. For the USSR, the MiG-29 was to be the backbone of the protective and offensive forces and, unlike the larger S-27, which was being developed at the same time, was intended for large-scale exports and appeared in the arsenal of many countries on several continents, including Czechoslovakia. Today, there are numerous references in Western archival sources that the MiG 29 was the type of technology that made NATO countries need to significantly increase their defense capabilities, as it was an equal rival to the latest American and European types. Fortunately, there was never a direct clash between the two spheres of influence, and MiGs 29, with the exception of Iran-Iraq episodes, did not engage in direct combat until the early 1990s, when the West had the opportunity to thoroughly test the type of quality not only the possibility of obtaining aircraft from the recently united Federal Republic of Germany. It should be added that, despite the discovery of many weaknesses, the mutual comparison of aircraft clearly showed that the fears of Western countries after the introduction of MiG 29 into service were justified.