Mikoyan MiG-29SMT / MiG-29UPG
Mid-life multirole upgrades that gave the old Fulcrum a Zhuk radar and a glass cockpit · First flight 1997 (SMT) · 2011 (UPG)
The MiG-29SMT reworks first-generation 9.12 and 9.13 airframes with systems developed for the MiG-29M: a Zhuk-ME radar with air-to-ground modes, a modern cockpit with multifunction displays, RD-33 series 3 engines and a weapons load raised to 4,500 kg. The SMT prototype first flew on 29 November 1997, followed by the first of the trials aircraft at Zhukovsky on 22 April 1998.
Algeria ordered new-build MiG-29SMTs in the 2000s but returned the aircraft in 2008 over quality complaints; the Russian Air Force took them into service around 2009–2010. India chose a similar path for its own fleet: a 2008 contract with RAC MiG covered the upgrade of the Indian Air Force's MiG-29s to MiG-29UPG standard, with a Zhuk-M radar, uprated engines and new avionics. The first UPG flew on 4 February 2011 and the first three were delivered in December 2012.
The upgrade work drew on the MiG-29M (9.15), a deeper redesign with a new airframe and fly-by-wire controls, and its two-seat MiG-29M2. New-build MiG-29Ms were later sold to Egypt, which had 46 delivered by 2021.
