Mikoyan MiG-35 Fulcrum
Channel: Main Battle Tank
Date: 2023-02-24

Don't forget to subscribe to our telegram news channel https://t.me/startechnowars

The Mikoyan MiG-35 is the latest incarnation of the successful light-weight MiG-29 Fulcrum series. With an increase to its MTOW by as much as 30%, the MiG-35 is now considered in the medium weight class. The aircraft is codenamed "Fulcrum-F" by NATO sources and is considered a full-fledged, multi-role platform utilizing the latest in Russian-originated search, tracking, and targeting systems comparable to Western aircraft types of same role. The aircraft is intended as both a local and export product for/by Russia and is inherently adaptable to various in-service Western systems to allow the product to compete more favorably in the global marketplace.

The MiG-35 is a further development of the modernized MiG-29M/MiG-29M2 model and features advancements proven through the navalized MiG-29K/Mig-29KUB as well. This includes an increased war load with nine hardpoint offerings, increased fuel stores for extended operating ranges, built-in air-to-air refueling capability for essentially limitless operating ranges, reduced radar cross-section, an corrosion-resistant surfaces. There is the possibility that the aircraft could also be arranged as a "buddy" tanker and refuel other fighter types by carrying exclusively fuel-only ordnance at its plumbed hardpoints.

The MiG-35 has been completed in several flyable prototype forms to test the design as a whole as well as its new systems under regular operating conditions. The aircraft's initial official unveiling was at Aero India 2007 and, at one point, the aircraft was offered to India as the Mikoyan solution to a standing Indian "multi-role aircraft requirement" to number some 125 examples. Today, the improved MiG-35 arrives a a direct contender to the venerable American Lockheed Martin F-16 "Fighting Falcon", whose hold in the global marketplace is well known, and the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 "Super Hornet" as well as the French Dassault "Rafale", the Swedish SAAB JAS 39 "Gripen", and the European consortium Eurofighter "Typhoon" multi-role fighters.

In terms of finding equal footing with its Western counterparts, the MiG-35 does just that in sporting three large liquid-crystal multi-function displays in the cockpit as opposed to the old Soviet tradition of incorporating basic, analog electronic dials and gauges. In the planned two-seat version of the MiG-35, the rear cockpit features no fewer than four multi-function displays to spread the workload between the two crewmen. Perhaps the most important upgrade to the life of the series is the inclusion of the powerful Phazotron Zhuk-AE Active, Electronically-Scanned Array (AESA) radar in the nose offering improved range, early detection, multiple target tracking, and enemy target avoidance. Targets can be designated through the Helmet-Mounted System (HMS) common to other in-service Russian fighter types in both Air-to-Air (AA) and Air-to-Surface (AS) modes. Sources say air-to-air detection can occur as far away as 45 kilometers while air-to-surface detection is within 20 kilometers. Beyond the advanced radar fit and onboard targeting/weapons systems, the MiG-35 is given a higher-rated, higher-output engine pairing capable of 19,840lbf with in-built afterburning capability for short bursts of speed. The engines can also be adapted to fit vectored-thrusting nozzles for extremely enhanced handling and improving close-in dog-fighting capabilities as a result.