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From: newave!john@uunet.UU.NET (John A. Weeks III)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Mig-29 operated by Iraq
Message-ID: <1991Jan22.015347.20308@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 22 Jan 91 01:53:47 GMT
References: <1991Jan19.041309.4869@cbnews.att.com>
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From: newave!john@uunet.UU.NET (John A. Weeks III)

> From: bell@krypton.arc.nasa.gov
> > While watching the order of battle for the potential fight, I noticed and
> > then remembered that the Iraqis have some Mig-29s.  They are stripped down
> > export versions, right?

> The avionics of the Russian version is primitive by today's standards.

Unless you know something about the Mig-29 that I don't, the quality of the
Mig-29 avionics is somewhat of a media myth.  I recently saw 2 Mig-29 fly
at the High On Kalamazoo air show.  According to both the Soviets and the
USAF hosts, the Mig-29 has almost state-of-the-art radar and avionics.  The
USAF claimed that the Mig-29 has electronics roughly similar to the F/A-18
Hornet.  Some even claim that the Soviets lifted the plans for the Hornet.
The Soviets claim that the Mig-29 is very similar to the Hornet, except
that the Mig-29 radar is has a slightly longer range.  The only glitch that
I saw in the Mig-29 is that the engines are slightly behind, they were a bit
smokey and slightly louder than expected.

Please keep in mind that the Mig-29 is not in the same class as the F-14
or F-15.

> The Iraqi version is even more so. 

Iraq purchased Mig-30 aircraft from the Soviet Union.  A Mig-30 is a Mig-29
airframe with the avionics and radar of a Mig-23.  This could be termed as
primitive--no match for a Tomcat or Eagle.

> The outcome of a dogfight is mainly dependant on pilot quality

In general, this is true.  But the Iraqies are basically overwhelmed.
The moment they launch a plane, it shows up on an AWACs screen, while
they have almost no clue where the coalition planes are except when
they are dropping bombs.

-john-

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