Cancelled 5th gen Mig 1.44 Discussion

There was a few threads from the forum but they were dated from 2004 and 2006.

In 1986 the Council of Ministers issued a direc*tive ordering MiG, Sukhoi and Yakovlev to make proposals for a ‘fifth-generation’ fighter to counter the threat posed by the USAF’s Ad*vanced Tactical Fighter, which later led to the F-22A Raptor. It was to be larger than the MiG-29, to serve as a succes*sor to the long-range MiG-31 and MiG-31M interceptors, but also with the supermanoeu*vrability needed for close combat and the ability to fly air-to-ground missions as well.

The 1.44 is an extremely large single-seater, designed to fly significantly faster than any air*craft it might encounter. Each wing is an al*most pure cropped delta with a thickness/ chord ratio of about 3.5 per cent and leading – edge angle of about 48° (50° over the inner*most section). On the leading edge are almost full-span hinged flaps, while on the trailing edge are large inboard and outboard flaperons driven by power units in underwing fairings.

The basic aircraft is designed to be longitudinally unstable and to fight at alphas (angles of at*tack) up to at least 100°, which explains the unprecedented 16 flight-control surfaces. These are needed because, unlike the F-22 (say Mikoyan) the basic aircraft is designed for close air combat.

The ducts diverge immediately to pass the nose gear, and then rise over the weapons bay (in this prototype occupied by instrumentation). The faces of the engines cannot be seen externally. The Saturn (Lyul’ka) AL-41F augmented tur*bofans are quite close together. Mikoyan claim the RCS (radar cross-section) of the MFI would be ‘similar to that of the smaller F-22’.

Had the MFI progressed according to its original schedule it could well have been, if not a world-beater, at least a formidable rival to the much slower F-22 says Mikoyan.