The new Russian fighter first surfaced outside US intelligence agencies in 1979. It was initially known as "RAM-L" in consideration of early reconnaissance satellite photos showing an aircraft of unknown origin at the Ramonskoye (now Zhukovsky) flight test center. It was soon officially identified as the MiG-29. Later, it was publicly referred to by its NATO codename, "Fulcrum-A."

After a comprehensive flight test program in 1982, the aircraft went into full-scale production at the massive Znamya Truda ("The Banner of Labor") production facility located on Moscow's Bokhtinskaya Street. Znamya Truda is the oldest aircraft factory in Russia and the birthplace of some of the country's most advanced aircraft. Russians began building airplanes here in 1909 in what was originally the Dux bicycle shop. (Vladimir Lenin's glass-covered casket was built here in 1924.) Today, the facility occupies over 600 acres of land and contains nearly 27 million square feet of floor space.

Westerners got their first close look at the new MiG in July 1986 when a group of six MiG-29s visited Rissala Air Base in Finland. The event was part of a biennial exchange program begun between Russia and Finland in 1974. On the second day of the 1986 visit, Soviet Air Force pilot Vladimir Chilin headed skyward in his MiG-29 after a takeoff run of only 1,600 feet. His acrobatic performance began immediately with a dynamic vertical climb followed by an extensive repertoire of maneuvers. The capability of the aircraft behind the impressive exhibition was not lost on the various military representatives in the crowd.

Two years later, the MiG-29 became the first high-performance Russian fighter to be displayed at Great Britain's Farnborough Air Show. It flew daily routines that included a slow-speed pass at approximately 120 miles per hour and an angle of attack of about twenty-five degrees. (MiG bureau representatives later claimed the aircraft is capable of a maximum AOA of thirty degrees.) The aircraft also demonstrated 360-degree turns in less than sixteen seconds and a sustained dynamic loading of nine g's.

One of the more visually stunning elements of the Farnborough performance was a tail-slide maneuver performed at low altitude. The maneuver began with the aircraft climbing vertically and slowly. The MiG-29 then decelerated to a stop and finally descended vertically, tail first, before recovering. The potential for an engine flame-out made the maneuver risky, though MiG representatives claimed the fighter's powerplant is virtually immune to back-flow problems of that kind. The tail slide was especially impressive at Farnborough because MiG test pilot Anatoly Kvotchur performed it at altitudes of around 3,000 feet, too low for recovery in the event of engine failure.

It was just such an engine failure that produced Kvotchur's most spectacular performance at the Paris Air Show the following year. Flying just over 100 miles per hour at an altitude of about 500 feet, the right engine stalled and the Russian pilot had to eject. As his K36DM ejection seat exited the cockpit, the aircraft rolled towards its starboard side and then descended in an almost perfect nose-first vertical attitude. Less than two seconds after Kvotchur punched out, the aircraft crashed to the ground. Kvotchur's parachute opened fully the moment his feet touched the ground. He suffered only minor injuries during the spectacle, which turned out to be one of the more persuasive emergency egress demonstrations in Paris Air Show history.

The MiG-29 made its first US appearance in 1990 when a pair of Fulcrums (a single-seat model and a two-seat UB model) arrived in Alaska on their way to an initial appearance in California. From there, the aircraft toured the country, visiting a number of states and performing at a half dozen major air shows. A second tour followed just over a year later.

Both single- and two-seat MiG-29s have been built in several versions. All are equipped with zero-zero ejection seats. The aircraft has a conventional cockpit arrangement with basically analog instrumentation and standard stick and rudder pedal controls. The cockpit is slightly elevated for improved visibility and is enclosed by a laminated, stretched acrylic canopy and a single-piece glass windscreen. The aft canopy of the two-seat aircraft has a retractable forward-viewing periscope mounted top and center for use by the backseater. A combining glass for a head-up display is mounted above the instrument panel. (The two-seat aircraft has no aft-seat HUD.) Some MiG-29s are equipped with a helmet-mounted sighting system integrated with the weapon system.

The MiG-29's fuselage is constructed of conventional stressed-skin aluminum alloys Composites are used in selected areas. The fuselage spine ends in a drag chute compartment equipped with a small dome-shaped, hinged cover. At least one MiG-29 variant, the recently unveiled MiG-29M, has been viewed with an extended dorsal spine similar in appearance to that found on the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. The MiG-29M, flown for the first time in 1989, has a sophisticated quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system and an upgraded "glass" cockpit with cathode-ray tube multifunction displays. It is also equipped with upgraded engines, improved aerodynamics, and other subtle changes to optimize performance.

The most common late-production MiG-29 is the Fulcrum-C. This version carries extra fuel and upgraded avionics in the additional space provided by its distinctive dorsal hump. This version purportedly has an improved ground-attack capability, a mission for which the MiG-29 originally was not intended.

The MiG-29 is powered by two 18,300-pound-thrust (in afterburner) Isotov RD-33 turbofan engines. These engines provide the aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.2 to 1. The Isotov engines are dedicated for use in either left or right engine bays and cannot be interchanged (unlike Western practice). Total internal fuel capacity is 1,150 gallons. The aircraft can carry three 400-gallon auxiliary fuel tanks.

Range is the MiG-29's major tactical failing. When fully loaded, the aircraft cannot provide the area coverage normally expected of a modern fighter. As a result, all long-range fighter missions and requirements are fulfilled in the Russian air force by the larger, and considerably more capable, Su-27.

Other technological features of the MiG-29 include intakes equipped with hydraulically actuated doors. These doors close off the forward throat of each intake and force air to be ingested through a series of spring-loaded louvers mounted on the top surfaces of each wing root extension. This system permits operation from rough field environments where foreign object ingestion may seriously damage the engine.

In the armament department, the standard MiG-29 carries a single GSh-301 30mm cannon internally with 170 rounds of ammunition. This weapon has a maximum effective range of 4,000 to 6,000 feet. In addition, the MiG-29 can carry up to six air-to-air missiles of various kinds and capabilities on its six wing pylons. The coherent pulse-Doppler RP-29 radar (code named "Slot Back" in the West) with look-down, shoot-down capability can track a fighter-sized target at a range of over fifty miles in a look-up mode and about thirty miles in a look-down mode. This system, found only on the single-seat aircraft, can track up to ten targets simultaneously and has a conventional antenna dish (not a phased-array). Both single- and two-seat MiG-29s are equipped with an infrared search and track (or IRST) and a laser range-finder system mounted in a fairing just ahead and to the right of the windscreen.

At least two MiG-29s have been modified for carrier trials. Dubbed the MiG-29K ("K" stands for Korabelnyy, which means ship-based), the navy version is equipped with strengthened landing gear, folding outer wing panels, a tail hook, a thermal imaging sensor ball in place of the standard IRST unit, and miscellaneous other carrier-compatible systems and upgrades. These navy-optimized versions also have no retractable intake doors and no spring-loaded top-side doors and slots.

Actual carrier trials aboard the 60,000-plus ton Russian aircraft carrier Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov (formerly the Tbilisi) began in 1989. Approximately twenty landings and takeoffs were completed during the course of the successful sea trials.

The MiG-29 saw real combat for the first time during the Gulf War. During the pre-dawn hours of the first day of Operation Desert Storm, at least four Iraqi MiG-29s scrambled from alert bases around Baghdad were destroyed in air-to-air combat. With much of their ground intercept radar assistance disabled by allied aircraft, the MiG-29s were seen to wander aimlessly. They proved highly vulnerable in this condition and were quickly dispatched by allied fighters. In some instances, the aircraft departed the skies over Iraq and headed for safe haven in Iran. An unknown quantity of MiG-29s landed there and now are thought to have been absorbed by the Iranian air force. According to available records, Gulf War MiG-29 losses totaled twenty-nine aircraft. No Western aircraft are acknowledged to have fallen victim to the MiG-29s.

When discussing the Gulf War losses, MiG representatives claim only one justification for the failure of the aircraft to perform as designed-the pilots were probably the most incompetent any air force could possibly have placed in the cockpit. In general, Western pilots agree with this assessment, pointing to a noticeable lack of Iraqi pilot aggression and willpower. In essence, Iraqi pilots exhibited little, if any, desire to fight.

Only limited information has surfaced in the West concerning plans for future MiG-29 configurations and upgrades. However, various improved versions, including one equipped with multi-axis vectorable-thrust engine exhaust nozzles (currently seen undergoing testing at Zhukhovsky), are under development. Such technology improvement, if extrapolated by Western standards, eventually will result in aircraft equipped with improved radar and avionics, digital engine controls, and more modern cockpit controls and displays.

MiGs historically have been sold to countries in all parts of the world. The MiG-29 is no exception. Some 250 of the approximately 850 aircraft manufactured to date have gone to foreign customers. India has acquired the right to produce MiG aircraft, including the MiG-29, at its Nasik factory.

Operated by Hindustan Aeronautics, this factory now is thought to have waived its MiG-29 option. No aircraft are known to have been completed to date. India's air force does, however, operate some seventy MiG-29s acquired directly from Russia. Afghanistan, Cuba, the former Czechoslovakia, the former East Germany, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Syria, the former Yugoslavia, and several other countries also are known to be operating the MiG-29 as front-line combatants.

MiG-29s of the former East Germany have been used in a program to determine the aircraft's combat effectiveness against various front-line Western aircraft. As part of this program, F-15C Eagles from the United States and G.R.1 Tornados from Britain have flown against these aircraft in simulated air combat. Though the specifics are still classified, the results have shown the MiG-29 to be highly competitive when manned by competent pilots.

Recent political and economic events in the former Soviet Union have limited (some say ended) production of the MiG-29. Many if not all the related production facilities either have been closed or are suffering from severe cutbacks. Most recently, reliable Russian sources have stated that all MiG-29 production will end in 1993 and that all future Russian fighter and ground support requirements will be filled by Sukhoi-built aircraft, such as the Su-25 and Su-27.