<\/a>MiG-29 Luftstreitkr\u00e4fte der NVA<\/p><\/div>\n\nThe MiG-29 takeoff speed is 162 mph to 174 mph (260 km\/h to 280 km\/h) and it has an extremely low take off distance. The\nFulcrum can take off from a strip of only 240m (that's 787 ft). The\u00a0F-16 Fighting Falcon by comparison needs about twice that. Also - it is made to take off from unpaved runways. That is thanks to its\u00a0rugged landing gear and protective air intake. They open and close automatically. And even with closed air intakes the MiG-29 is able to\u00a0do an afterburner take off. Soviet war planners expected to encounter damaged or under-prepared airstrips during a rapid armored advance. It is also comparable easy to maintain and robust - made in a way that technician can do their job with gloves in Siberia for example.\u00a0Regardless of the Design Bureau - Mikoyan\/MiG is the most famous one, Sukhoi, Tupolev, Ilyushin or\u00a0Yakovlev are others - . \u00a0all Soviet fighter jets\u00a0share this\u00a0common ideology: Ease of maintainance, simplicity of the\u00a0design, toughness and the ability to\u00a0operate from rough, unpaved airstrips of the shortest possible length.\n
Shortcomings of the MiG-29<\/h2>\nNow - since there is so much of fame for the beautiful Fulcrum - what are the shortcomings? Yes - there are some. Mainly two major weaknesses - Fuel\/range and radar. Let's quote Oberstleutnant K\u00f6ck again:\nThe most obvious limitation of the MiG-29 was the aircraft\u2019s limited internal fuel capacity of 3,500 kg (4,400 kg with a centerline tank). The MiG-29 \u00a0had no air-to-air refueling capability, and its external tank was both speed and maneuver limited.\u00a0If a mission started with 4400 kg of fuel, start-up, taxy and take off took 400 kg, 1,000 kg were required for diversion to an alternate airfield 50 nm away, and 500 kg for the engagement, including one minute in afterburner, leaving only 2,500 kg of fuel.\nIf we need 15 minutes on station at 420 kts that requires another 1000 kg, leaving 1500 kg for transit. At FL 200 (20,000 ft) that gives us a radius of 150 nm, and at FL 100 (10,000 ft) we have a radius of only 100 nm.<\/blockquote>\nAnd about the Radar - K\u00f6ck said:\nThe MiG-29s radar had a poor display, giving poor situational awareness, and this was compounded by the cockpit ergonomics. The radar had reliability and lookdown\/shootdown problems, hence \u00a0its poor discrimination between targets flying in formation, and moreover it couldn\u2019t lock onto the target in trail, only onto the lead.<\/blockquote>\nMainly because of these two limitations, the MiG-29s role in the German Luftwaffe was restricted to only a few clearly defined roles. It was mainly used as adversary threat aircraft for dogfight training where it brought valuable insights in the training of not only German pilots (see video above). On top of that it was also used for point defense, and as wing (but never lead) in mixed Fighter Operations.\n\nAnd after all - the MiG-29 found the perfect destination - flying MiGFlug customers from all over the world. They do not care much about radar capabilities and range since most of them have enough after a sporty aerobatics flight or Edge of Space flight<\/a> that last up to 50min.\n\n\n\n