The contenders: MIG-35

Competing for the Indian Air Force's 126 medium range multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) tender is the MiG-35. The Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC) MiG-35 is a re-designated version of the MiG-29 OVT.

The MiG 29-OVT (NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) has been the star at air shows around the world, performing jaw-dropping aerobatics, the likes of which have never been seen before. Catapulting to fame, along with the OVT, is Pavel Vlasov, MiG RAC's chief test pilot, who is now possibly the most recognisable face at air shows around the world.

The MiG-29 was designed to be a highly manoeuvrable, air-superiority fighter and quickly earned respect amongst the air forces of the West for its capabilities. Ever since its first unveiling in January 1994, the MiG 29 quickly became a frame of reference for air forces and experts around the world for its dog-fighting abilities.

As generational advances in various technologies allowed Western fighters to chip away at the advantages that the MiG 29 offered to its clients, the basic MiG-29 platform, in turn, began to evolve into more advanced versions. The various phases of the MiG 29 have evolved through the Fulcrum-A, B, C, K, M, M2, ME, MT, MTK, N, OVT, S, SE, SM, SMT, SMTK and UB versions, though not in this order, and with each version also offering several intervening types. The MiG-29 OVT is the latest product of this evolutionary cycle.

The MFI
A 1999 Itar-TASS article carried on the warfare.ru website posts the history of the development of MiG multi-role front-line fighters or MFI's (Mnogofounksionalni Frontovoi Istrebiel). The MFI fighter was to meet the following requirements:
· super-manoeuvrability (a capability to fly at supercritical angles of attack, at increased level of sustained and available g-loads and high turn-angle rate, which require a greater thrust-to-weight ratio and improved wing aerodynamic efficiency);

	super-manoeuvrability (a capability to fly at supercritical angles of attack, at increased level of sustained and available g-loads and high turn-angle rate, which require a greater thrust-to-weight ratio and improved wing aerodynamic efficiency);
	supersonic flight with afterburner disabled (what is also referred to as 'super-cruise');
	low detection in radar and IR wave bands (meaning stealth);
	short takeoff and landing runs;
	a significant reduction in flight hour cost, ground crew, size and weight of non-standard ground support equipment;
	a new layout of onboard equipment and a new arrangement of cockpit information and control instruments; a high level of integration.

The MiG29 OVT/MiG-35 fighter is a direct product of this developmental process. According to the RAC, these requirements, along with a new generation of weapon systems, engines and avionics, not only allow the new aircraft to surpass all fighters of previous generations but, critically, also to outperform those developed under the Advanced Tactical Fighter program, launched by the United States, at around the same time.

The MiG 29 OVT/MiG-35 product openly challenges the fancied American F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters. It is the boast of RAC MiG that the MiG-35 can not only take on the F22 Raptor in its designated air-superiority role, but also perform with equal capability in strike/ground attack missions, where the Raptor is not so very capable. Reportedly, the MiG-35 may be offered to clients at a price about five times cheaper than a Raptor, which would be make it an option that governments would find difficult to turn down.

A new bird
As compared to the preceding versions of the MiG-29, the MiG-35 itself is a thoroughly transformed aircraft and richly deserves to be re-designated as such. Its striking feature, which sets it radically apart from all preceding versions, is its RD-33 MK all-axis, deflected thrust-vectoring (DTV) engines, which are even more capable than the ones that power the famed Sukhoi-30s.

Russia began serious developmental work on thrust vectoring during the 1980s. The Sukhoi and Saturn/Lyulka engine design bureaus led the way, and their efforts resulted in the Su-30 MKI aircraft, delivered to the Indian Air Force, being powered by the AL-31FP engines with two dimensional (up/down) nozzles that move 15°.

The MiG and Klimov engine bureaus began their work in the field of thrust vector engines a little later and aimed at all-aspect thrust vectoring, as opposed to Sukhoi/Saturn's two dimensional (horizontal/vertical) vectoring.

Their effort aimed at equipping their engines with nozzles that could move in any direction. Klimov achieved all-aspect vectoring with the aid of three hydraulic actuators that deflect the nozzles, and are mounted at 120° intervals around the engine nacelle. While Saturn's 2D system sees the nozzles move 15°, up and down, Klimov's 3-dimensional system has the nozzles moving 18° in all directions.

What all this translates into is that the aircraft can fly at very low speeds without angle-of-attack limitations, and that it will also remain controllable in zero-speed and 'negative-speed' (tail-forward) areas for sustained periods.

This is a phenomenon which previous Russian fighters could achieve only momentarily, as for example, during a tail-slide or with the Sukhoi-30's spectacular 'Cobra strike' manoeuvre. The enhanced vectoring engines provide pilots an ability to 'flip' the aircraft 'off-axis,' and thus 'point' a chasing missile away from the direction of flight.

According to Alexey Fedorov, RAC MiG's director/designer general, the RD-33 engine provides improved reliability, service life and increased time between overhauls. Fedorov has also said that the life cycle of the airframe has been extended to around 6,000 hours.

Along with a host of improved technologies, the MiG-35 will also come equipped with the Tikhomirov NIIP Bars-29 active phased array electronically scanned radar. The fifth-generation pulse-doppler radar is capable of simultaneously tracking, and attacking, over 20 targets. The MiG-35 can carry long-range air-to-air and air-to-surface guided missiles, and is also armed with a 30-mm cannon.

So far the MiG-35 exists only as a prototype, that too, in the form of a single MiG-29 OVT. MiG's ace pilot, Pavel Vlasov, however, avers that it is the only prototype in the world that is ready for series production.