Actually, Fomin said the MiG-29 vs Su-27, he points out both were competing for the same requirement and the Sukhoi design won. When it became clear that one design could not do all that was expected of it, by the RusAF, MiG convinced the RusAF to buy the MiG-29 as well. I am paraphrasing, but that was the gist. So, clearly MiG was not a shy wallflower when these requirements were being drawn up and could have exerted more influence to get things right. That they agreed to such requirements and made a platform for which wags said (carries enough fuel to defend the airbase perimeter), just shows that they weren’t thinking beyond just getting the job done.
Now, the Su-27 actually faced more trouble in its development history. Simonov literally redesigned the plane from scratch, just retaining some basic elements. The radar also ran into many problems but NIIP salvaged it by using N019 tech for the antenna/processor, yet came up with a better user interface overall. Clearly, Sukhoi took more risks to get the design right, at the beginning itself.
The point remains that MiG could have done far more than what it did to come up with a fighter that was more useful than just a hot rod point defence interceptor. Its like a mish mash of capabilities that were not fully developed. The overdependence on GCI for instance. Would it have killed them to insist on & incorporate some more autonomy into the system?
The Su-27 came out much more flawless from the beginning, it required less hand holding and modernization going forward.
Sorry, but you are into nitpicking here. The Su-30 Ks India got, did not have any radical modernization above and beyond that of the early Su-27s. No fancy glass cockpit, no entirely new radar, no super gizmos that made them far ahead of the unupgraded MiG-29s. Their user interface and rest was hence firmly in the early Su-27 class.
In fact, it has the same glass dial cockpit as early Sukhois. Thats the interesting thing about the Flanker, that with such minimal upgrades, it remained relevant well into the 2000’s.
Compare the N001 to the N019, if you will and the basics remain the same!
The Su-27 system with more intuitive radar/weapons control & datalink was ahead of the MiG-29.
India too got the same early N019s the RusAF did with marginally different systems (IFF modifications and presumaby, without the Russian GCI datalink). Later, the radars were supposedly upgraded to the N019ME standard.
Point remains though, that without this upgrade, the IAF MiG-29s would be severely disadvantaged. Whereas even a Russian standard Flanker, would continue to be useful till just a few years back, when Active Missiles proliferated.
Good luck on that, and it’ll be interesting as well if you can find it. However, the fact remains that what the IAF said, remains relevant as a third party assessment of how the early MiG-29s were, and the experience of the East German AF backs it up.
http://www.16va.be/mig-29_experience.htm
And..
Note the early aircraft, same as the IAF ones..
some very good points and precisely why MiG-29 was a step down for MiG in terms of revolutionary designs like the MiG-15, 21, 25, etc. All the points made in defense of MiG is moot. Sukhoi had a better product and western equivalents to the MiG-29 were going to have BVR added to them anyways as it was designed for it, but were simply not ready at the time. Furthermore, they are not so equivelent either.. a MiG-29 is closer in weight and size to the F-15 than it is to the F-16. Its much larger than the Mirage 2000 or Mirage F-1. Yet its range and limitations made it like a MiG-21 with out a MiG-21s benefits. That’s the Flanker is superior.
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