TW: Americans spend trillions on defense and many still think we are going to be overrun by some combination of Asian hordes or Islamic terrorists. We are great at assuming we suck while potential foes are somehow supernaturally capable. If the Soviets had had half the capabilities we attributed to them they would have rolled over us ten times.
From an anonymous friend (and blog reader):
"I read an in-depth, objective 3rd party evaluation of the MiG-29 and variants yesterday. As you probably know, the MiG-29 is an incredibly capable aircraft on paper. For amusement, I thought I would share some bits:
The only aircraft ever shot down in combat by a MiG-29 was one fratricide - iraqi shooting down his wingman in the the Gulf War before flying into the ground himself trying to avoid an F-15, and two Cessnas. 2-3 MiG-29s have been lost in combat as a result of maneuver suicides (i.e. crashed into the ground) indicating either ergonomic issues in the cockpit or handling problems at low altitudes. Another 3 have been similarly lost at air shows. The aircraft has only flown around two hundred total combat sorties in its career with a loss of 22 aircraft.
The Auditor General of India found 139 of 189 engines failed prematurely. 62 had not even reached 50% of their first overhaul point. Due to this and other issues, the MiG-29s are apparently the undisputed hanger queens of the Indian air force.
The much reported success of the MiG-29 in service with the Luftwaffe has mainly to do with the squadron being an aggressor squadron for all of NATO wanting to practice aerial combat against MiGs - i.e. similar skill and rules of engagement to Top Gun in the US where the instructors always win. Otherwise, the Germans have had similar maintenance issues to what the Indians have experienced.
The doors that cover the engine inlets for rough field takeoffs trap debris which lodges on or at the bottom of the door seal so as a pilot clears the runway, starts to pull the gear up, and shoves the throttles full forward to climb out at 50 or so feet, the doors retract and dump all the FoD collected from the takeoff run into the engines simultaneously.
The MiG-29 does feature one of the most effective, proven ejection seats in the world."
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