Nowadays, when it comes to Russian-style fighters, many people can think of fighters such as Su-27 and Su-35, all of which are from the Sukhoi Design Bureau without exception. But if you turn the pages of the history books, the most famous aircraft design bureau in the entire Soviet period was not Sukhoi, but the Mikoyan Grevich Design Bureau, that is, the famous MiG Design Bureau. The status of the MiG fighter is higher than that of Sukhoi.
However, today, when it comes to the MiG Design Bureau, it is also a well-known fighter, and now, most of the MiG fighters have been retired, I am afraid that everyone can only think of the MiG-29 fighter, not to mention that there are few countries in the world that will purchase this fighter again, and the Soviet fighter still has orders, and the number of shares in the world is also very low, so why does the MiG Design Bureau play a good card in its hand like this.
In Soviet times, there were several major aircraft design bureaus, and at that time these large aircraft design bureaus had their own different division of labor. The Sukhoi Design Bureau and the MiG Design Bureau are specifically responsible for the research and development of fighter jets, of course, including different fighter models such as fighter-bombers and interceptors, so these two companies specialize in fighter research and development. In the early years of its establishment, the MiG Design Bureau developed a number of classic aircraft, including the MiG-15, MiG-17 and MiG-21, which played a very important role in the history of world warfare.
During the period to resist US aggression and aid Korea, there was even a "MiG corridor", which is enough to show the important role of this design bureau. Compared with the outstanding performance of the MiG Design Bureau, the Sukhoi Design Bureau seems to be obscure, basically there are no excellent models that can be used, most of the ones they developed are some larger but less equipped with a small number of aircraft, and there are also some fighter-bombers, whose market position cannot be compared with the MiG Design Bureau at all.
The turning point in the fate of these two design bureaus came in two fighters, the MiG-29 and Su-27. During the Cold War, the United States developed the F-15 fighter jet, and after the introduction of this fighter, the Soviet Union felt pressure. At that time, the Soviet MiG-31 fighter had not yet officially entered service, and the Soviet Air Force lacked a model capable of fighting the F-15 fighter, so they launched a fighter research and development program with the aim of developing a model that could fight the F-15 fighter.
At that time, this plan was split into two sub-projects, which were handed over to the Sukhoi Design Bureau and the MiG Design Bureau for completion. The structure of the fighter jets launched by the two companies is actually extremely similar, with one aircraft being larger and being named the Su-27 fighter, while the other being smaller and being named the MiG-29. Although the fuselage structure of the two fighters is basically the same, the difference in aircraft size has led to a very different outcome for the two fighters.
Only in terms of aerodynamic layout, the air combat capabilities of these two fighters are actually not outstanding, and they do not have an advantage in the air combat that may occur with the F-15, but the Su-27 fighter is superior to the larger fuel tanks in the fuselage and inside, and also has more excellent improvement potential, so the development momentum of the Su-27 fighter is better, and many advanced models have been derived. However, the MiG-29 fighter has a fatal weakness, because its two engines increase the empty weight, which leads to a shorter range, so it is also nicknamed the "front-line airport defender".
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was actually reluctant to sell Su-27 fighters to other countries, preferring to sell MiG-29s. At that time, the mainland air force wanted to buy advanced fighters from Russia, and the Russian side mainly promoted MiG-29 fighters, and later after arduous negotiations, the mainland purchased a batch of the latest Su-27 fighters from Russia.
After the completion of this contract, the Russian side also began to relax the export restrictions on the Su-27 fighter, so many countries have purchased this new fighter from the Sukhoi Design Bureau, and the MiG Design Bureau has no one to care about the MiG-29 fighter, and the F-16 fighter is selling well, there has been no order, and even this fighter will be forgotten, and there is basically no chance of a comeback.
In fact, after entering the new century, the potential of the MiG-29 fighter is getting lower and lower, the MiG-29 fighter has not performed well in actual combat, and has been shot down a lot, and Russia's improvement of the MiG-29 fighter is not very good, and it is far from the latest batch of F-16, and the product strength is far from that of the Su-27. Russia's latest MiG-35 fighter is actually a large version of the MiG-29, and the actual performance has not improved much.