Russian aces "STRIZHI" (MIG-29)
MiG-29 Fulcrum High-Performance Combat Aircraft, Russia The MiG-27K fighter bomber aircraft is manufactured by RSK MiG and the Irkutsk Aircraft Production Association Joint Stock Company. The MiG-29, -30 and -33 are known by the NATO code name Fulcrum. The MiG-29K is the carrier-based version. There are in the region of 600 MiG-29 variants in service with the Russian Air Force. 16 new MiG-29Ks have been ordered by India to equip the INS Vikramaditya (formerly the Admiral Gorshkov) carrier bought from the Russian Navy, for delivery between 2007 and 2009. In August 2004, the Defence Ministry of Sudan announced that they planned to acquire a further 12 MiG-29 aircraft, converting options under a contract for ten fighters placed in 2002. Deliveries on the original contract concluded in July 2004. The mission of the MiG-29 is to destroy hostile air targets within radar coverage limits and also to destroy ground targets using unguided weapons in visual flight conditions. The aircraft's fixed-wing profile with large wing leading edge root extensions gives good manoeuvrability and control at subsonic speed including manoeuvres at high angles of attack. The maximum operational g-loading is 9g. A two-seater version, MiG-29M2, took its maiden flight in 2001. A super-manouevrable variant, MiG-29M OVT, with three-dimensional thrust-vectoring engine nozzles was successfully demonstrated at the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2006. The nozzle has three hydraulic actuators <b>…</b>
