This is the Blackbird:
Posted on 11/02/2009 4:29:11 PM PST by sonofstrangelove
Malaysia admitted that it is getting rid of its MiG-29 fighters because the aircraft are too expensive to maintain. It costs about $5 million a year, per aircraft, to keep them in flying condition. Three years ago, Malaysia bought two more MiG-29s, in addition to the 18 it got in the 1990s. Two of those were lost due to accidents. Malaysia has since ordered 18 Su-30 fighters, and will apparently order more to replace the MiG-29s. Malaysia also bought eight F-18Ds in the 1990s, and is getting rid of those as well. Russia has offered better prices on maintenance contracts for new Su-30s, in addition to bargain (compared to U.S. planes) prices. Most of the MiG-29s provided satisfactory service. Malaysia was long a users of U.S. aircraft, so they have been able to compare Russian and American warplanes. The Russian aircraft cost less than half as much as their American counterparts. The Malaysians find that an acceptable situation, even though they face better trained pilots flying F-16s in neighboring Singapore.
The MiG-29 entered Russian service in 1983, as the answer to the American F-16. Some 1,600 MiG-29s have been produced so far, with about 900 of them exported. The 22 ton aircraft is roughly comparable to the F-16, but it depends a lot on which version of either aircraft you are talking about.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Ya think?
Designed as a high speed interceptor with one purpose - to shoot down the Black Bird.
..and you bought more??
snicker.......
Umm...your purchasing department needs some mil expertise.
just sayin'
Fail.
Did the Russkies pull their usual ‘Monkey Model’ trick? They used to do that with tanks and helos; demonstrate top of the line gear straight from the Moscow Military District, and then deliver an ‘M’ model with much-reduced capabilities.
When I was in the reserves, I did research (unclassified) on the MiG-29 as a training project. The conclusion of my research was that the MiG-29 was like that character in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” who does those amazing sword tricks and is then shot dead by Harrision Ford.
The MiG-29 can do amazing things, but it is mostly useless against American air power. The MiG-29 can dogfight about as well as any plane in the world, but nobody dogfights anymore. In the first Gulf war, Saddam Hussein stopped launching his MiG-29s because they would get shot down by long-range missiles almost as soon as they got off the runway.
Is the ‘blackbird’ you refer to the stealth bomber? Is the steal bomber particularly vulnerable to this or any specificaly designed aircraft? I am not well versed in aircraft but they continue to draw me in - may be genetics - my father bought and flew a B-25 bomber in the 70’s.
This is the Blackbird:
The “Blackbird” was the SR-71. None were ever taken out by hostile action.
An amazing aircraft with an almost cult following.
Yup. The Mig-31 was the superfast interceptor. The Mig-29 was a dog fighter.
That would have been the -25.
You are right and I do stand corrected.
Still, the -29 is old tech, some where around our first generation F-15.
That's why one needs to be the 'upgrade insurance', right?
Thank you for the links and photo. I am not familiar with this aircraft and it’s just...well...beautiful. I know, odd word for a fighter but it really stands out. I’ll read up on it. Thanks again!
What was that? Did you see that?
What?
Dude. That was the MiG-25. And it was built to shoot down B-70 Valkyries. Shooting down an SR-71 would probably be a heck of a challenge for a MiG-25 or its descendant, the MiG-31.
The MiG-29 was a response to the F-15/F-16/F-18 generation of fighters.
ahhhhh....maybe you were referring to the MIG-25?
It’s intended job was to go after the proposed valkyrie bomber. That job never materialized when the valkyrie project was cancelled.
Doubt it could catch a blackbird, but I heard rumored that they tried to no avail.
Wow. I can see why it would inspire a cult following, I can’t stop checking the pictures. I am dismayed to read that it is in the ‘past tense’ and that it’s dates if service were ‘64 - ‘98. I guess that is a good long lifespan. It had to be light years ahead of it’s time in terms of aesthetic design - in ‘64 it must have seemed like a space ship next to other craft in terms of appearance.
If you are ever near McMinnville Oregon, stop by the Evergreen Aviation and Space museum. They have an SR-71 under the left wing of Howard Hughes Spruce Goose. It makes the SR-71 look tiny.
Brain fart.
see my post #11
I imagine some rich bastards wouldn’t mind getting a hold of a MiG-29 for a toy.
If you're ever in Seattle, the Boeing Museum of Flight has one of these birds on display.
I heard that was not a rumor.
Never heard the M-25 linked to the Valkyrie before.....??
Thanks for the tips. I definitely gotta see one of these in person. I HAVE to...I need to!
Yeah but the 5 mil a year is not really much is it? I bet we spend a couple trillion a year maintaining each plane.
Seems like tucking it under the wing of the Goose doesn’t show it off enough - IMHO. Like ‘oh and here’s another plane to look at if you get tired of the Goose’. IMHO
The SR-71 was one bad bird. Designed in the day before computers - slide rules.
Kelly Johnson and Skunk Works are two search terms if you are interested.
???
Thanks. I am interested. I am quite surprised at how forward it’s design was - and that they were able, let alone allowed, to build it back then. And pre computers????? So it must have been such a thrill to fly it based on feel (instead of the isolating effects of technology).
You might be thinking of the MiG-25, a mach 3 interceptor.
Never mind...just read your post #11...
Blackbirdsst would like this thread, but he’s gone. Our loss.
No, you're talking about the Mach 2.8 MiG-25 Foxbat, which was designed in the 1960s.
The smaller and sleeker MiG-29 (below) was 1980s vintage, designed to take on both the F-15 and F-16.
FYI Russia is currently phasing out the MiG 29 in favor of SU-27 derivatives.
Great pictures...but the Blackbird still wins the beauty contest when compared with the Foxbat. :)
Go google search on land (aero) speed records.
The bad Black Bird still holds several, as old as it is.
The 'joke' went something like this..........
Black Bird pilot, "Beale tower (CA) this is BB flight 001 requesting clearance to land," "Rodger BB flight 001, this is Beale tower, current position?" "Beale, we are currently over Denver. Estimated arrival time is 2 minutes, over?"
You get the idea.
You could not 'fill' the jet up with fuel prior to launch - it leaked like a sive.
Made out of titaniam. It (the skin) had to heat up to become tight. Mach 1.0 - 1.5 would be the warm up for what was to come........
Wicked fast......even by todays standards.
Thanks for the details. It’s performance makes it even harder to accept that it’s out of service. I guess they don’t bring old designs back, huh? Rats.....
All those Soviet airplanes were fairly impressive in their own right from an aeronautical point of view. At the time, we were pioneering fly by wire, but they were doing things the old fashioned way with hydraulics and a pilot with no computer getting in between the pilot and the airplane.
Their planes may be poorly made, with inferior systems, but one has to give their aeronautical engineers some credit for what they built and are still building. Their pilots may be insane, but they can fly.
Leaked fuel like a sieve....ok....not what I would expect from a jet aircraft but.....hmmmmmm.......
It flies so fast that the friction of the air heats the plane's skins so much they expand and close the gaps. That's why they had to build it out of titanium. Aluminum couldn't handle the heat.
There are many great books on the plane, the people who flew it, as well as those who designed and built her. Fascinating reading, even if you aren't into airplanes, but even more so if you are.
Thank you for the details - very interesting. I don’t imagine there were many titanium craft around at that time - so forward looking in it’s appearance, functional design and performance. I am hooked - intrigued by this craft and will read up on it.
Nobody ever got close....the J-58 was a marvel.
Awesome picture. I looked it up on Wikipedia and noticed this “It was the first engine to be able to operate on afterburner for extended periods of time, and the first engine to be flight-qualified by the United States Air Force for Mach 3. “
So this craft was the ‘base’ unit which then was applied to a variety of designs including the BlackBird? Which means I might get a glimpse of craft similar to the BlackBird if i look up the alternative ‘applications’ of this base design?
The military usually doesn't give up technology unless there is something better to replace it. One might assume that satellites and mission specific launches have replaced the SR-71, but what about those "soap on a rope" contrails? Makes one wonder what really replaced the SR-71. Does it have a pilot or is it remotely controlled?
Great pic!
The J-58 was pure brute force....matched to an airframe well ahead of it's time.....wanna talk 'stealth'....??
Kelly Johnson, and team,....... pure genuis.
You are 100% correct.........nobody ever got close!
Na na na na.....hey hey hey........good-bye
This is / was American technology....the F-22 Raptor....na...na...na...na.......hey...hey...hey....eat my exhaust when ya can get a sniff........
Then came Obama..........
I haven’t seen the soap on a rope contrails but will certainly look ‘em up!! I guess you point to something I have wondered about. All the talk of the use of unmanned craft in the Middle East, I wondered if it would ‘catch on’ here. Seems sad to take the pilots out of the cockpit but I certainly prefer that they are not shot down with their aircraft so I favor the use of unmanned craft in war. Now that you mention it, it seems obvious that we probably do have unmanned craft domestically - there isn’t really a good reason why we wouldn’t except for ‘public reaction’ - the PR issue of Terminator lore, when the unmanned craft goes rogue etc. so if you just fail to tell the public until you have a safe record of performance, then every one is ‘happy’...except the pilots who don’t get to climb into the aircraft of course.
Actually, it was pretty damn sophisticated. It ran as a turbojet...until about Mach 1.5....then it became a ramjet.
In the test stands at Pratt-Whitney, the engine would get so hot, the skin became transluscent....you could see the inside....from outside....one white-hot sonavabeotch.
I know a thing or two about engines.
You are right about being 'sophisticated'.
Bottom line for thrust production....it was a brute!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.