Zach and Zoso, what say you about the mig 35 ? I have no idea of the quality, but was surprised to see that the Russians sre willing to sell them to Serbia. I enjoy reading your explanations, is this plane any good?
These planes were made exactly for selling to a foreign, neutral market.
Its basically an evolution of the Mig -29
The Mig-29 was the best all weather multirole fighter around, before the stealth era. Directly competing with american F15. Pretty much the best planes around.
Well, there were the Su27 and F18, but those are naval planes, more agile, but less range, top speed and payload, less powerfull electronics.
They took that Mig-29, updated building materials and painting. Most important are the new engine and the radar.
The engine, is something special. Its a very powerfull turbofan afterburner,yet very suited for all weather conditions.
But the true masterpiece is the radar. No, its not the one that will be in the PAK FA.
usually when planes scan around them for other planes, or "lock on" via radar signature, the locked or tracked plane can defect this radar tracking. Well this AESA radar is specially build to avoid that, enableling them to track and lock without giving away position.
Furhtermore, its very difficult to use ECM against this type of radar. lastly it has pretty good detection limits. Should be able to spot an F35.
The US navy uses this type of radar on their F18's aswel. Why would you need an F35 if your F18 can see it clear as day and can carry a multitude of the payload, with better agility and speed after all.
The plane is better then any plane except an F18 and F22.
An F22 is plain better. An F18 is better in some aspects and less in others.
Looking at future releases, the PAK FA and J20 are better in every aspect, but it could take over a decade before those come out.
However, you might wonder, why does russia sells this advanced tech ? WHile it doesnt have better planes ?
Well quite simply, russia is going to replace everything with Sukhoi PAK FA's. That plane is superior in every aspect to the Mig. But the Sukhoi program isnt cheap so they need to fund it somehow.
To fund it, they sold Mig project 1.44 to china, and its predecessor, the Mig35 to other country's