Why did Germany have Soviet MiG-29?

- Support

The Soviet MiG-29 was used by the Luftwaffe between 1990 and 2003 and saw use in multiple NATO training scenarios. How did the most modern Soviet fighter at the time end up in the arsenal of NATO?

- Museum
Visit the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr (Luftwaffe) Berlin-Gatow

- Social Media

- Acknowledgements:

- Sources
AirForces Monthly, November 2000, Re-unified Fulcrums

AirSpace Mag, The Truth About the MiG-29

Moscow Defense Brief, #2 2009, EADS in Russia

Peter Steiniger quoted in AirSpace Mag, The Truth About the MiG-29

USAF

Yefim Gorden, Mikoyan MiG-29, Midland Publications

-Audio
Music and Sfx from Epidemic Sound

#militaryaviationhistory #mig29 #Germany

[MilitaryAviationHistory]

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[frankleespeaking]

I was an F15e crew chief with the 494th FS in Lakenheath England. In 1993 we went to Norvenich and trained with the Luftwaffe. They brought in a former E. German mig29 for us to fly against. The thing was a beast and our pilots had all they could handle. We (maintenance) got to sit in it and watch it launch. The German maintenance crews treated us well and we had a lot in common. Except while their migs were in the air they drank beer! For us that was Verboten good times

[JustVinny]

*The missile knows where it is at all times*

[forestmcneir]

That museum should have retained two MiG-29s, one in Luftwaffe livery and one in East German livery.

[dy]

Reminds me of an event described in Nick Richardson's No Escape Zone book. He was going to face German MiG-29s in his Sear Harrier during a training exercise and attempted to exploit a weakness associated with pulse-doppler radars to get the jump on the MiGs. The ploy, IIRC, worked, but the MiGs saw that coming, switched to IRST, and "shot him down" anyway. Shortly prior to the exercise, he made fun of the Germans for supposedly not having an equivalent to "fluffy" in their language, so after scoring a kill on him the German pilot who did it said to him "who is the fluffy one now?"

[soyuzvostok]

They got MiG-29 because they couldn't resist their sexiness

[kasparbrauer]

*That's gotta be the best pirate I've ever seen*

Soviet Union: *So it would seem*

[andrii.konkov]

Fulcrums are still going fairly strong in Ukraine, I'm lucky to witness their fly bys from to time.

[richardvernon]

The Germans took a few Mig 29's over to RAF Valley in the summer of 1993 to fire AA-10 and AA-11 missiles on the Aberporth Missile Range. During those trials, they also did a number of air combat trials with a Tornado F Mk 3 of the Strike Operational Evaluation Unit at Boscombe Down controlled by the local Air Defence Radar station located at Ty-Croes just down the coast of Anglesey from the airfield. I was a radar Technician on the site at the time and happened to be on shift when the trials happened, so got to see it all in the Radar dispaly cabin which was packed to the gunnels by people wanting to watch. The Tornado won all of the fights at it got its Skyflash missiles off first every time (and on most occasions got a forward aspect AIM-9 shot off as well before the Mig-29 got a AA-10 shot off). The Mig 29 on the other hand got radar lock on first. I actually got to look around and sit in the aircraft at the Strike Command Air to Air Missile Establishment a few days later and got to see something I never expected to see ever. A Live Soviet Air to Air missile (AA-10) being carried on an RAF weapon loading trolley being towed by a Landrover!!

[Gman-]

I flew both the Mig29 and SU27 in Russia about 13 years ago now. The Mig29 was and is my favorite fighter, and I got to take the controls for about 5 minutes. Amazing aircraft considering the old control system, we pulled 8+ G, probably close to 9, several times in turns. The thrust was amazing, even in the 2 seat Mig it recovered airspeed very quickly. Also, the AA11 Archer missile with the helmet sight would have been a NASTY surprise for NATO in the mid to late 80s had war come, as the off boresight capability was beyond what NATO thought it was, that's for sure. The Germans when they flew against the US Navy F18s shortly after the end of the cold war, found out just how good that AA11/HMS combination was, and the West had nothing like it until the Joint helmet/Aim9x came along, many years later. Of course Western/NATO fighters BVR was much better, but in a massive ECM environment that would have been the front lines in Germany in a WW3 scenario, the IR missiles would probably been just as important as the BVR ones, if not more due to all the jamming.

[Sturgeonmeister]

I was stationed at Bitburg AB, in 1973-1975. At that time we had F-4E's. I heard that later on, when the base was turned over to the Luftwaffe, they stationed Mig 29s there. Now the base is a commercial flugplatz.

[AnIndianPatriot]

Well I have also been inside this aircraft when my father was in Indian Navy, man it was one of the best moments. Well as per these notes you gave, Mig 29s radar systems was not effective but In the Kargil War in 1999 they were very effective. Having BVR missiles made them very effective and were able to lock on Pakistani F 16 in the Indian Territory but they weren't allowed to fire as it wasn't a full scale war.

[armanamg]

The MiG-29 is the most beautiful air fighter of all time and the Mikoyan Design Bureau This is a legend in the aircraft industry

[arno_nuehm_]

Germany: We need upgrades to NATO standards.
Russia: Ok, we do that. No problem.
Germany: Thank a second....you have access to specifications??
Russia: Well...it's a standard, isn't? So everbody should know about, right?
Germany: ....

[sergarlantyrell]

If I knew they were selling off their Mig-29s for €1, then I would have got one!

[SheriffsSimShack]

What a beatiful voice of that MiG 29 Pilot

[PaddyPatrone]

Klasse Video!
Kaum zu glauben, dass ich mal ne Deutsche Mig29 in der Luft gesehen habe, gerade wenn man sieht wie "kurz" wir die operiert haben und wie wenige es gab.
Hahn In Motion damals, geile Airshow (meine erste). War absolut beeindruckt vom senkrechten Steigflug und vom Donner der Triebwerke. Außerdem wurde damals noch die F4 vorgeflogen. Zu schade, dass ich damals noch keine Kamera

[andrashorvath]

Hungary recieved 28 MiG-29s in the early 1990s as part of a debt settlement deal between Hungary and Russia. We were also going to recieve Su-27s but as Hungary decided to join the NATO, that deal tanked. The planes, despite their flaws (though tbh the range in a country sized like Hungary wasn't really an issue), were held in very high regard by the pilots, with Hungarian pilots winning a gold medal 5 times flying them at the Royal International Air Tatoo. They were retired in 2010 because the Air Force decided to lease(!) JAS-39 Gripens because of political reasons. While the Gripens are more modern in a lot of sense, you'll find no pilots who flew both planes and regard the Gripens superior to the old MiG.

[thalamay]

As a kid in the late 80s, early 90s, I went through a jet phase. And the Mig-29 was one of my favourite at the time. It was just such a sexy design.

[mikolajgrotowski]

I actually fly on one of these ex german MiGs when coming to Poland. We are actually surprised by the level downgrading from the Russian version who was sold to Poland in 89. In Poland, we think we are seen by soviets less trustworthy then East Germany.
Unfortunately, apart from the fact that the planes had worse equipment, they were also very worn-out.
Most of the machines ended up donating parts for Russians and Czech models.