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Source: Krylya Rodiny ["Wings of the Motherland", monthly independent magazine]. no. 1, January, 1995, pp 1-4. Title: MiG-29? No, MiG-33! Authors: Anatoly Belosvet, Mikoyan design bureau, deputy general designer, Yuri Polushkin, Mikoyan design bureau, branch manager [Abridged translation] Demonstrated for the first time at Farnborough-94, the MiG-33, a new Russian fighter, is a deep modernisation of the MiG-29. The main goals of the modernisation were: - multifunctionality with further growth of air-to-air and air-to- ground capability widely using high-precision weapons; - considerable growth of combat range owing to an increase in the internal fuel capacity; - better pilot-to-aircraft interface in the cockpit; - introduction of new-generation equipment. The external changes between the MiG-33 and the MiG-29 are negligable and confined chiefly to the following: - Changes in the intakes' geometry including the removal of the upper intake louvres, enlarging inlet dimensions for higher airflow, installation of movable nets protecting the engines from the ingestion of foreign objects during take-off and landing. - The number of hard points has been increased up to nine and this enables either suspension of a 4,5 tonne bomb load or eight [Vympel] RVV-AE air-to-air missiles [Russian counterpart to the AMRAAM]. The MiG-33 can carry same types of missiles as the MiG-29 does, and many more. For instance, four air-to-surface missiles such as laser-guided Kh-25ML and Kh-29L, or TV-guided Kh-29T missiles or four KAB-500KR guided bombs can be carried . The number of changes invisible for the eyes of a spectator is greater. The MiG-33 features more powerful, upgraded engines and the quadraple-redundant fly-by-wire flight control system. A new onboard radar with a reprogrammable signal processor provides not only a greater aerial target detection range, but is also capable of detection of sea and small-sized ground targets, ground mapping, terrain following and alerting to avoid ground obstacles. A new electro-optical sighting system (EOSS) provides a growth in the target acquisition range, all-aspect target acquisition and the capability of illuminating a ground target with the laser laser beam. It also can detect a "laser spot" being created by an external designator, identify targets and track automatically ground targets with the help of the TV-channel. Modern interior of the cockpit features EFIS [electronic flight-instrumental system] (two multi-function displays, a head-up display, a track-and-alert system indicator). Besides, the MiG- 33 has more effective computers, running new software along with [modern] communication, friend-or-foe identification and electronic warfare systems. In an effort to reduce the weight and the number of manufacturing hours as well as to achieve a higher level of quality, the forward fuselage (including the cockpit section) is made of aluminium-lithium alloy by means of welding. A variety of systems and devices have been modernised, including the landing gear. The flight performance and the handling qualities either remain the same [as those of the MiG-29] or boast an improvement, this is due to the new engine and the fly-by-wire system. The combat range saw a considerable increase owing to the enlarged fuel capacity. For an aerial close-in engagement (five 360-degree turns, load of two medium, two short range missiles, three drop fuel tanks) the combat radius is 1,250 km. The subsonic interception mission range (M=0.85, armament of four medium range missiles, three drop fuel tanks) is 1,440 km, and for a ground target attack mission with air-to-surface missiles (load of two air-to-surface, two short range air-to-air missiles, three drop fuel tanks) the comabt radius is 1,190 km. The overall combat potential was increased by a factor of 1.5 in air-to-air missions and by a fcator of 3.4 in ground attack missions. The aircraft has successfully undergone the manufacturer's flight tests. Moscow Aircraft Production Organisation MAPO has produced the initial batch of aircraft and is now preparing for mass production. The Russian-built equipment can be replaced by or added to western avionics if a customer wishes this. Containers housing TV-aiming systems can also be fitted. The MiG-33 has good growth potential to increase its combat efficiency. The MiG-29/MiG-33/F-16C/F-18C Comparison >From the authors' viewpoint, those articles and brochures that sometimes appear in the West comparing the modernised F-16C and F-18C with the first series MiG-29s, which date back to 1982-1984, are incorrect. It would be more correct to compare these [F-16C and F-18C] aircraft with the MiG-29s built in the last [few] years and the MiG-33. We did this in the attached tables. Among others, there are the following advantages of the MiG-29 and the MiG-33 over the F-16C and the F-18C: - The MiGs feature more complex aiming systems, incorporating the radar, the OESS and the helmet-mounted sight meanwhile the American fighters have [only] radars and visual aiming at targets. - The MiGs have radars with wider scan and track angles in azimuth: +/-60 degress for the F-16C, +/-70 for the MiG-29 and the F-18C, +/-90 for the MiG-33. - The MiGs have wider zones of target had-off designation for short air-to-air missiles suspended under pylons: +/-28 degrees for the AIM-9 [Sidewinder] and +/-45 degrees for the R-73 [NATO code name Archer] as well as wider target-tracking angles after launch 45 deg for the AIM-9 and 75 deg for the R-73. - The Russian aircraft's assigned calendar lifetime is longer (25 years). This has been proved by the operational experience of the previous models (the MiG-21, the MiG-23 and the MiG-29). - The MiGs have more effective, in terms of accuracy, methods of gun firing which are coupled with the larger calibre of the cannon (30-mm against 20-mm). - The twin-engine MiG-29 has better flight safety compared with the single-engine F-16. Economical factors are of great significance when it comes to choosing what type of aircraft to buy. Their influence is the key to understanding why the majority of nations (about 80 countries) prefer to buy only light-weight fighters like the MiG-29, the F-16, the F-18, and the Mirage 2000. Heavy-weight fighters, the F-15 and the Su-27, can be found in service only in the CIS, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel and China. Furthermore, in these countries their share is less than that of light-weight fighters. Economical characteristics, i.e. the acquisition cost and the maintenance cost, are also favourable to the MiG-29 and the MiG-33. After 20 year service life, the economical benifit, generated by a MiG-29 in comparison with an F-18C would have generated an equivalent sum equal to the acquisition cost charged for a new MiG-29. According to authors' opinion - we are employees of ANPK Mikoyan Mikoyan design bureau - data shown here is in favour of the MiG-29 and the MiG-29M (MiG-33). The advantage of the MiG-29 and the MiG-33 over the Mirage 2000-5 can also be demonstrated in the same way. New designs, the Rafale and the EFA, will merely be able to get nearer to the MiG-33 or its further modifications in terms of tactical characteristics, albeit both will be much more expensive. Basic Performance MiG-33 MiG-29 F-16C F-18C Take-off weight (full fuel, AAMs), kg 15,300 15,700 12,004 16,800 Thrust with afterburners, kgf 2*8,300 2*8,800 1*12,518 2*7,620 Max. speed at sea level, km/h 1,500 1,500 1,470 1,300 Max. speed at high altitude, km/h 2,450 2,500 1,890 1,900 Range w/out drop tanks at low level, km 710 900 800 950 Range w/out drop tanks at altitude, km 1,500 2,000 2,000 2,200 Thrust-to-weight ratio 1.09:1 1.15:1 1.04:1 0.86:1 Max. g load 9 9 9 9 Rate of climb, m/s 252 234 194 210 Turn rate, degree/s 23.5 22.8 21.5 20 High-speed interception range, km 345 410 389 370 Low-level penetration mission range, km 340 385 400 372 Radar aerial target detection range (RCS=3sqm), km 60-70 80 50-60 60-65 Maximum AAM launch range, head-on 60 50 45 48 tail-on 27 20 18 18 Number of weapons hardpoints 6 9 9 8 Bomb load, tonne 4 4.5 ... 4.3 Combat readiness coefficient 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.85 Maintenance man-hours per flight hour 11.3 11.0 1 8 16-18 Mean time between failures in the air and on the ground, hour 13.6 7.3 2.9 3.7 Airframe lifetime, hours 7,000 7,000 8,000 8,000 Relative cost 0.7 0.8 0.7 1.0 ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* This is a sample of ShareNews service providing weekly digest of reports of Russian printed and electronic media on aerospace, naval and defence issues. You are welcome to send requests for subscription details to: ShareNews@ravis.msk.su placing SUBSCRIPTION INFO
in the body of the message.Please, allow several days for our reply to reach your mailbox. Alexander Velovich, ShareNews Editor Source: Armeisky Sbornik [Military Journal, official publication of the Russian ministry of defence]. Issue 1 (January) 1995, pp 77-79 Authors: Colonel Sergei Reznitchenko, Stanislav Smirnov (Myasischev design bureau) Title: An Aircraft the Greenpeace Envies [Myasischev M-17/M-55 High-Altitude Reconnaissance Aircraft] [Summary] In the second half of 1970s V.M. Myasischev Experimental Machine-Building plant [Myasischev design bureau] completed the design work on a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. The first prototype was assembled at an aircraft factory in Kumertau. Myasischev test-pilot Kir Tchernobrovkin took off the M-17 Stratosfera (Stratosphere) in 1978 but, sadly, the maiden flight ended up without fortune to him and the aircraft [the pilot was killed, the aircraft damaged beyond repair at landing in snowstorm gust]. After that manufacturing of prototypes that followed was transferred to the design bureau workshops [situated in Zhukovsky near Moscow]. Since 1982 the M-17 entered intensive flight test program. In 1990 Myasischev test-pilots set 25 world records in subsequent aircraft category, including one of time to climb to 12,000 metres [39,344ft]. The M-17 pilot reached this altitude twice faster than the previous record holder. The M-17 appeared as a consequence of military competition between the superpowers and was conceived as an element in a reconnaissance-strike system similar to American PLSS. The idea was to create autonomous extremely accurate weapon system intended for destroying highly-valuable targets, stationary and on the march, in tactical and front operational area. It would comprise reconnaissance aircraft and ground control stations of surface-to-surface tactical missiles. Reconnaisanse data gathered by one or several airborne platforms was to be processed either in the air or on the ground, practically with real-time speed. This provided minimum time lag in sighting data, and thus guaranteed high weapons delivery accuracy. In case of firing guided missiles the aircraft could function as correcting system. In 1987, shortly after signing disarmament agreements, the Soviet Union canceled the development of the reconnaissance- strike weapon system as a one-side initiative. When the Soviet Defence Ministry placed an order for R&D project of a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, Lockheed TR-1, an aircraft of classic aerodynamic layout, was considered to be its analogue. Russian engineers had eventually succeeded in keeping the twin-boom tail design with short fuselage and clean wing of 40m [a31ft] span. A new high-lift supercritical airfoil had been developed for the M-17. American counterparts for the M-17, the TR-1 and its predecessor, the U-2, both designed by Kelly Johnson, have high wing area, but are almost deprived of manouevrability, and have such strict flight envelope limititaions that at some altitudes the minimum and maximum speed almost coincide. To get rid of this "desease", characteristic for the U-2, the M-17 features fully mechanised wing trailing edge. The so-called adaptive wing, or the wing with airfoil variable geometry, was introduced in the M-17 design much more earlier than on western designs, the invention patent dates 1971. Having superb lift- to-drag ratio, the M-17 with engine idled glides almost 30km [16.2nm] from 1,000m [3,300ft] altitude. Besides, the airplane retains effective pilot's handling throughout the flight envelope, from sea-level up to 25,000m [82,000ft]. The M-17 design was to be completed in short time which did not allow developing a new perfectly fitting powerplant. therefore Myasischev engineers decided to use the existing The RD-36-51V engine, initially developed by Rybinsk engine design bureau for Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic airliner, was modified and installed in the M-17 because the project time schedule did not allow the development of a new powerplant. V.Arkhipenko, Myasischev chief test-pilot comments: "All that the engine could give had been pulled out of it, but the airframe could give more. With the installation of a more powerful engine we could get even higher in all respects". Operating the U-2 causes a lot of trouble to USAF pilots and ground personnel. The American machine can takes off and lands only in quiet, almost windless weather. These procedures must be monitored by other aircraft flying on parallel heading. After a take-off, the U-2 drops underwing struts. The U-2's airframe with high aspect ratio wing and sleek aerodynamics houses minimum weight equipment and has 50% fuel weight fraction. Some reports suggest that Johnson's creature is rather limited at take-off in terms of ambient temperature range as well. On the contrary, the M-17 has been developed as an ordinary operational aircraft: there is no problem to get airborne even at -20 degrees Celsius [-4F]. While the famous American ghost plane U-2 and its modifications were carrying out electronic warfare reconnaissance missions in the Operation Desert Storm, its Soviet analogue already laboured at the civil field. In 1990 an M-17 was converted into a high-altitude ecological monitoring aircraft to investigate the state of the Earth ozone layer. The M-55 Geofizika (Geophysics) [a further development of the M-17], was created under the supervision of deputy general designer L.Sokolov. It has a new wing and slightly modified fuselage. The powerplant is comprised of two specialised engines, each supplying 5,000kg [11,000lb] of thrust. It can loiter 6.5 hours at 17,000m [55,700ft], the take-off and landing runs are 900 and 780 metres respectively. Basic performance TR-1 M-17 M-55 wingspan, m 31.4 40.3 37.5 length, m 19.2 21.1 22.7 wing area, sq.m 92.9 151 thrust, kg 1*7,710 1*7,000 2*5,000 take-off weight, kg 18,144 18,400 24,000 payload, kg 2,500 1,500 max. altitude, ft 69,800 68,850 Loitering time, h 12 1.5 6.5 cruise speed, kmph/kt## 695/375 750/405 750/405 *********************************************************************** *********************************************************************** This is a sample of ShareNews service providing weekly digest of reports of Russian printed and electronic media on aerospace, naval and defence issues. You are welcome to send requests for subscription details to: ShareNews@ravis.msk.su placing SUBSCRIPTION INFO
in the body of the message. Please, allow several days for our reply to reach your mailbox. Alexander Velovich, ShareNews Editor