From a commercial success to a new hope for the air force - this is the impressive path the Russian MiG-35 fighter looks set to take. The machine, which is a massively improved version of the MiG-29 used by our BBC, is being urgently put into production, after years of no one, neither at home nor abroad, asking for it, writes Breaking Defense, citing its sources.
ΠThe reason is very simple - in the war with Ukraine, Russia is losing fighter jets and I need to replace them with new ones as soon as possible. The MiG-35 is simpler to manufacture and cheaper than the larger Cy-30CM and Cy-35, and yet, according to the designers, it is close to the technical possibilities.
However, in the aviation industry, nothing is done with a magic wand, and the sharp development of the program is not easy.
A bad start
Work on the MiG-35 began long before from 20 years ago, the initial goal was to create an export fighter based on the MiG-29M2. Following a number of changes to the program, in 2017 A completely new machine has been introduced, which upgrades the MiG-29KP.
ΠThe first order for the Russian BBC came in the same year - for 24 aircraft, although according to Breaking Defense sources, fewer than 10 have actually been delivered so far. There is absolutely no interest in the aircraft from foreign countries - either because of the perception that the MiG-29 platform developed in the 1970s has already exhausted all development possibilities, or because of the availability of many other competitive models.
Πin 2023 Information emerged that Moscow was trying to revive interest in the aircraft by involving the small number of available personnel in missions over Ukraine, but nothing came of it. The Cy-30 and Cy-35 find markets in Russia's allied regimes, while the MiG-35 still has not had a single sale abroad.
This is a huge irony, as its predecessor, the MiG-29, is one of the best-selling Russian aircraft on the market, and was even offered to a reunified Germany as an alternative to the Eurofighter.
A chance for turn
Shortly before taking up his position as head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yuri Slyusap confirmed that the latest version of the MiG-35, now designated as a "4+++ generation fighter", will be in full-scale production by 2025.
According to various sources, we are talking about a version that has no neither with the first prototypes nor with the pre-production machines.
As a twin-engine jet fighter, the MiG-35 is a relatively compact aircraft - as is the MiG-29. This significantly reduces operating costs, and in addition, the machines are much more unpretentious in terms of airfields - all things that cannot be said about the Cy-27, Cy-30 and Cy-35 derivatives.
The Ukrainian BBC has been very good in recent years at showing how important the concept of a "front-line fighter" is and will be in the 21st century. MiG-29s, armed with precision-guided bombs and homing missiles, regularly harass the Russians with precision strikes, and the locations of their airbases change constantly.
Attempts by the Russian BBC to use the Cy-35 for this purpose led to many losses of machines and pilots - the MiG-29s were almost completely removed from service. Now with the MiG-35, the Russian BBC could apply tactics similar to those of the enemy.
In addition, unlike the MiG-29, the new fighter has a larger wing area, which gives it greater maneuverability, greater capabilities for carrying weapons and about 50% greater range of action.
However, the biggest plus is that for For the first time, the Russian BBC will have an aircraft that can automatically exchange data with other fighter models. At the moment, for some missions, the MiG-31BM, equipped with a powerful radar, is required to "lead" other aircraft in flight to a sortie of its own. Now the information from the radar and other sensors will be sent automatically. This is something standard for western fighters, but it is a technological trick for pycĸites.
It must be so easy
The desire of the political leadership can interfere with the capital, notes Reacting Defense. Mikoyan's design bureau, unlike Tsykho's, has had problems with export deals for years, and there is also a lack of success on the domestic market.
As a result, the Moscow plant, which once "blew up" The MiG-29 now seems abandoned, and the pre-production MiG-35s are being built in a much smaller factory that cannot compete with large-scale production.
There are no complete supply chains for such a start - the last large-scale MiG-29 series date back to before the turn of the century. There are literally not enough workers who know how to build such an aircraft - and the aviation industry is facing a serious labor shortage anyway.
Not only that, but even before production began, in order to reduce costs, the modern "Zhyk-A" radar was not being introduced, and another version, which is currently not It is clear how quickly it can be produced.
The perceived pressure to achieve the impossible and the introduction of a "forgotten" aircraft into serial production may also be among the reasons Yuriy Slyusar chose a career in regional administration. What they will do at the United Aircraft Corporation will be visible to the naked eye over Ukraine this year.