Mikoyan MiG-29 (9.12) "Fulcrum-A"
The original light front-line Fulcrum — the type that ended up in half of Europe's air forces · First flight 1977 · In service 1983
The first MiG-29 prototype flew on 6 October 1977, and the production fighter, product 9.12, entered Soviet Air Forces service in 1983. It was designed as a light front-line fighter to complement the heavier Su-27, with two Klimov RD-33 turbofans, an N019 pulse-Doppler radar, an infrared search-and-track sensor and a 30 mm GSh-30-1 cannon. Internal fuel was 4,300 litres in six tanks, which kept its radius modest.
Export 9.12A and 9.12B versions equipped the Warsaw Pact and many other air forces. East Germany received 20 single-seaters and four UB trainers in 1988–1989; after reunification they flew with the Luftwaffe's JG 73 "Steinhoff" at Laage. Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and India were early customers, and India ordered 44 aircraft in 1984 alone.
In September 2003 Germany sold 22 of its 23 remaining MiG-29s to Poland for a symbolic €1 each; the last left Laage in August 2004. Hungary retired its fleet in December 2010, Slovakia withdrew its MiG-29s on 31 August 2022, and Poland and Bulgaria still flew the type in the 2020s.
