Here's thought: twelve years or so ago, when I first became fascinated by fighters, the MiG 29 was claimed by most books I read to be arguably the best fighter in the world, or if not, then at least the Eastern bloc. Yet I recently read that it has never won a single dogfight. Is it really overrated, or just frequently in the hands of poor pilots?

Astonlad: Funny you ask. I was just wondering why Chile is so worried by Peru's recent purchase of 20 (used) MIG-29. On paper the 29 is just as good as it gets, but I have never read any report of any other type of aircraft shot down by a 29. NEVER!!!.

Jose

well aside from the skies over iraq i don't know that the mig29 has ever been in a fight. and in that case relatively poorly trained pilots were up against extremely well trained pilots. after the unification of germany, the luftwaffe gained some migs. they used them in mock dogfights with their other aircraft. the mig29 came out on top repeatedly in such engagements. the main thing though is that the soviet bloc trained its pilots to be much more rigidly controlled from the ground. they were not trained to be as independent as western pilots. it is an excellent dogfighter. one detractor is that the engines give off more smoke than most other engines but the pilots say it isn't a problem.

Guys, have u read about the dogfight between Luftwaffe MiG-29 against the USAF' F-16? In that dogfight, the Luftwafee pilots beat the USAF's pilots despite the fact that F-16 has better avionic system.
Besides, if u look at the fight between MiG-29 vs F-16, the MiG-29 always filied by poorly trained pilots. Look at the case of MiG-29 Iraq being shot down by USAF's pilots. U know that the US has the biggest military budget in the world. It's not a problem for them to train their pilots any amount of hours per week if they want to. Or also look at the case of the Dutch' F-16 vs Yugoslavia MiG-29. Maybe it will be fair if there's a dogfight between USAF F-16 vs Russia's MiG-29 or India's MiG-29 vs Pakistani's F-16

Thanks for your opinions guys, you've helped answer my question. I'll give the Mig 29 one thing: it may not have lived up to expectations in combat, but its a beautiful looking plane that graces many of my desktop wallpapers.

fyi--the russian military is not getting its flight hours in. most pilots do very little flying as there is no money in the budget to get them airborne.

MiG-29 is a very good option then that of F-16 just because it had the best pilots and artilary then F-16 . it's true that they are now becoming old but stratigically it is much better then tody's many fighters .

paresh

Yes you can compare the MiG-29 to the F-16 all you want, the MiG will win. But you put that same MiG up against any F-15, A, B,C,D, or E model and there is no question on who will win. Especially considering that the C,D, and E model carry the F100-pw-220 or -229 motors that will blow away the motors that are in the MiG. Considering the fact that the F-15 was only suppost to have a service life of 5 years and has been in service for more than 3 decades. Bottom line the F-15 is the best aircraft next to the FA-22.

You can't compare mig-29 to f-15 , because migs equalent is f-16. F-15's equivalent is su-37 flanker . But i think it's possible that mig-29 can beat f-15 in a dog fight because of it's maneuverability.

Mig-29 is old, but it is the best in it's class.