MiG-17 / Experimental Versions with Various Equipment and Armament

The SP-8, SP-9, SP-11, SI-05, SI-07, SI-16, SI-19, SI-21, SI-21m, and SI – 91 are all MiG-17s equipped with various weapon systems—basically,

unguided rockets fired from pylons, pods, or tubes. On the SI-16 and SI – 19, for instance, firing experiments were conducted from short rocket pods. The SI-19 was also used for experiments with heavy-caliber TRS – 190 (190 mm) rockets fired from rails or tubes under the wing. Several types of bomb racks were also tested, and much attention was paid to whether the rockets interfered with underslung fuel tanks.

In 1953 the SP-9 was used to test rocket pods attached under long pylons. An automatic ZP-6-Sh device allowed the rockets to be fired one after the other. That prototype had no cannons. A new ranging radar, the Grad (“hail”), was also tested on the SP-8 that year.

The standard MiG-17 gunsight, the ASP-3M, was replaced by an experimental head-up display nicknamed Sneg (“snow”) that displayed the distance from the target and the collimator reticle on the wind­shield front glass panel. Because of development problems, the Grad radar was abandoned and replaced by the Kvant (“quantum"), which passed its tests and was recommended for mass production. All MiG – 175 on the assembly lines were equipped with this new radar, and the equipment was retrofitted on all MiG-17s already in service.