IVHG 29KVP МШ-29К / 9-31

In the early 1980s the Soviet Navy announced its desire to equip its future cruisers-aircraft carriers* with highly maneuverable, well – armed supersonic fighters. This aircraft type was to have the opera­tional radius to intercept and destroy airborne invaders as far away from its floating base as possible and to be capable of short takeoffs at full load. The OKB engineers and pilots under the leadership of M. R Valdenberg thought that their best choice for this project was to "naval – ize” the MiG-29 airframe, and they transformed it into a proof-of-con – cept aircraft.

The essential modifications concerned the gear, which was strengthened to withstand higher sink rates at touchdown, and the tail section of the fuselage, which was reinforced to receive an arrester hook. The new aircraft was named MiG-29KVP (Korotkii Vzlet •This shrewd label authorizes the carrier to proceed through the Dardanelles. As “car­rier” alone, she could not pass in accordance with international agreements and would therefore be trarmed in the Black Sea.

MiG-29K no. 311 lands on the deck of a carrier It is just about to catch the first arrest­ing cable with its hook.

The wing’s folding axis runs between the flaps and the ailerons. Structural modifica­tions were reduced to the bare essentials

A MiG-29K takes off from the aircraft carrier’s deck in fewer than 100 m (300 feet) thanks to the ski-jump technique and the special booster regime of its RD-33K turbo­fans

The MiG-29KVP was a proof-of-concept aircraft used to prepare the design and devel opment of the MiG-29K.

The M1G-29K is fitted with a retractable refueling probe

і Posadka. short takeoff and landing, or STOL) and was first piloted by Fastovets on 21 August 1982. A long test campaign then began, lead­ing to the conclusion that to fulfill all its requirements the aircraft needed a greater wing area, more efficient lift devices, more powerful engines, and a far greater fuel capacity Since the OKB was concur­rently developing the 9-15 project (the future MiG-29M), which met most of the requirements, it was decided to develop the naval aircraft from that airframe.

Like the MiG-29KVP, the modifications for this new project con­cerned the strengthening of the long-stroke gear (shortening links on the main gear legs) and the reinforcement of the rear section of the fuselage to receive the arrester hook (entailing the removal of the brake chute). In addition, engine thrust was boosted at takeoff thanks to the ChR system, and the wing had to be thoroughly redesigned. The wing area of the MiG-29M still fell short of the navy’s needs, so the wing chord was extended ahead of the leading edge by adding a front

The second prototype of the MiG-29K with its full external armament four R-73A short-range air-to-air missiles and four Kh-31P long-range air-to-surface missiles

spar to support the two-segment LE flaps; also, the wing flaps were extended beyond the trailing edge, and the ailerons were shortened. That is how the wing area was increased by 3.6 m2 (36.6 square feet). The wing was also made foldable (the fold axis lies between the aileron and the flap).

The wing tips were bulged to house electronic support measures (ESM) equipment. Because the danger of ingesting foreign objects on takeoff and landing is practically nonexistent on a carrier, the overbody louvers were deleted and the multisegment ramp system was readjust­ed; but to prevent seabirds from being sucked in, the air intakes are still equipped with lightweight deflector grids that can be retracted in flight. Due to the special nature of the environment in which the air­craft would operate, engineers had to take exceptional anticorrosion measures, make sure all bays and access doors sealed tightly, and include the stowage devices usually found on carrier-based aircraft.

The 9-31, renamed MiG-29K (Korabelniy: ship-based), is, like the MiG-29M, powered by two RD-33K turbofans rated at 8,625 daN (8,800 kg st). When taking off in a fully loaded aircraft, the pilot can use a spe­cial afterburning rating similar to the ChR (Chrezvichaimy Rezhim exceptional rating) used on the MiG-21 SMT and MiG-21bis that adds 588 daN (600 kg st) to each engine. The overall fuel capacity is 9,610 1

MiG-29K (MiG OKB three-view drawing)

(2,540 US gallons), and the aircraft is fitted with a retractable refueling probe on the left side of the nose. Like the MiG-29M, the MiG-29K is fit­ted with the N 010 multimode pulse-Doppler radar.

Prototype no. 311 was first flown on 23 June 1988 by test pilot T. Aubakirov at Saki naval airfield on the Crimean Peninsula, where one of the runways was equipped with a ramp very similar to the ski jump of the 65,000-tonne (67,000-ton) aircraft carrier Tbilisi. In November 1989 the aircraft made its first deck takeoffs and landings from that ship, which in the meantime had been renamed Admiral of the Fleet Kuznetsov. It was a great premiere for both the Soviet Navy (VMF) and its aeronautical branch (MA) and was much to the credit of test pilot Aubakirov, who had to use the ski jump of the deck’s forward end instead of the usual carrier catapult to take off.

In 1990 the focus of the tests was the development of an automated landing procedure and the necessary electromagnetic compatibility between the aircraft and the carrier’s radioelectric systems. The second prototype, no. 312, exhibited at Machulishche near Minsk in February 1992, carried four R-73E short-range air-to-air missiles under the wing’s folding panels and four Kh-31P air-to-surface missiles fitted to AKU – 58M ejector pylons under the fixed panels. But it was only one of the many combinations of weapons that the MiG-29K could carry because on the sole export version no fewer than twelve different types of mis­siles are offered: air-to-air missiles, R-73E, R-27R1, R-27T1, R-27E(R), R-27E(T), RW-AE; air-to-surface missiles, Kh-29T, Kh-29L, Kh-25P, Kh – 25ML, Kh-31P, Kh-31A. The aircraft could also carry various types of bombs, including the KAB-500KR "smart’’ bomb, or B-8 and B-13 rocket pods. Its armament contains the GSh-301 (9A4071K) cannon with 100 rounds, located above the port body leading edge.

Specifications

Span, 11.36 m (37 ft 3.2 in); overall length, 17.37 m (56 ft 11.8 in); height, 4.73 m (15 ft 6.2 in), wheel track, 3.09 m (10 ft 1.7 in); wheel base, 3.645 m (11 ft 11.5 in); wing area, 41.6 m2 (447.78 sq ft); takeoff weight in clean configuration, 18,480 kg (40,705 lb); max takeoff weight, 22,400 kg (49,340 lb); wing loading, 444.2-538.4 kg/m2 (90.57-110.27 lb/sq ft).

Performance

Same as MiG-29M, except for: range in clean configuration, 1,600 km (1,000 mi); range with one 1,500-1 (396-US gal) and two 1,150 1 (304-US gal) auxiliary tanks, 2,900 km (1,800 mi).

This wind tunnel model of the MiG-29KU ship-based trainer shows the especially high location of the rear seat.