MiG-29 Fulcrum: The Jet the Americans Even Wanted #shorts

The first operational MiG-29s were introduced in 1982 and were codenamed "Fulcrums" by NATO, a name that was also adopted by some Russian pilots. The Fulcrum gained a fearsome reputation in the West and even inspired its own computer game. Throughout the 1990s, Western pilots had numerous opportunities to fly MiG-29s as the German Air Force incorporated the MiG-29s from East Germany.

[jnhg]

MiG-29 got a nickname "Airport defender“ due to it's very very short combat range.

[kitpong]

Mig-29's engines have a painfully short life if pushed to high speeds.
As a case study, Malaysia bought both the Mig 29 and F/A-18 at about the same time.
The F/A-18 are still going strong, while the bulk of the Mig-29 are now Hangar Queens.

[derekedge]

The idea of having secondary intake vents on top of the wingroot extensions for take off, preventing fodding the engines, was brilliant. They were able to achieve this without altering the wing design, or sacrificing agility. That is indeed cool

[SoyuzA]

Mig 29 is the most beautiful jet fighter in my opinion.

[davidefland]

I love the Mig 29 it’s one of the best looking jets.

[brotherenoch]

Do not underestimate this aircraft.

The MiG-29 is/was an Excellent airframe (maintenance issues aside).

Speak to any Air Jockey from that period.

[perfectcell]

Never thought I'd see mig29 flying next to an f35
The picture is so beautiful and poetic in some way

[watwat]

Mig 29 was good until the Soviet Union fell apart. And the PLAAF also looked into the Mig 29 and decided that Mig29s are just too small and too limited for the vast air space of China, therefore they chose the Su27, bigger plane, more fuel, more weapons and a bigger radome. Mig29 without the support from the Soviet Union was getting it's ass handed by the F-16/15s during Gulf war and the later conflicts.

[yrkjrk]

In certain dogfighting styles the MiG-29 was superior. The Russians favored the idea of a fighter being able to maneuver very well at slow speeds, with maneuvers like the cobra. The US adopted the idea of energy management fighting, or keeping your speed high and maneuvering at those higher speeds. While there were never any proper US vs USSR dogfights, the US simulated a dogfight between their MiG-29s and F-16s and found the MiG-29 to come out on top more often, leading to more upgrades and advancements to the F-16. But there's a reason why the MiG-29 isn't active in most airforces. It's avionics wete outdated at the time of development and combined with terrible maintenance-heavy engines the MiG-29 quickly became a hangar queen

[OutletVibes]

The only reason we wanted the 29 was to see what it was capable of and to train our pilots against them.
We obviously don't use these in our military.

[cassiecaradoc]

I mean, they are pretty cool, but for some reason they die an awful lot during Red Flag exercises.

[donsilkco]

so good Germans dumped all mig-29 to Poland. Charged them 1 Euro each.

[FirstNameLastName-tflr]

i worked F-16s for 32 years and never once heard that!

[warriorson]

One of the most beautiful aircraft ever...😍😍😍

[Sandhill]

Beautiful bird, Even more beautiful when they get splashed.

[coreymoyers]

The F-16 does not excel at long-range missions. Its limited range is its biggest weakness. Additionally, It is the main reason why the Navy chose the F-18 over the F-16.

[devnandannair]

I find it hard to believe that thing could outmanuever an F-16, that thing is the king of 4th gen dogfights excluding 4.5 gen aircraft like the Rafale and Typhoon, it outrates pretty much everything, the Fulcrum is at a disadvantage here.

[Smart_Gamer]

“Can outmaneuver any NATO fighter”

F-22 and F-35: Allow us to introduce ourselves

[riccardomarinaro]

Fulcrum and Strike Eagle have been probably one of the most outstanding aircraft rivalry in history

[Tamde]

The Americans purchased those MiG-29s from Moldova to keep them from falling into the hands of an unfriendly regime. I can't remember which one exactly, but it wouldn't be hard to find out if you Google it.
They also wanted them for research purposes, to find out its weaknesses & tendencies that pilots can exploit in a dogfight. That's about it, not because the Americans wanted to operate them.