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| Russian MiG-35 Flagship Fighter Jet Ready For Mass Production |
Moscow - The Russian Ministry of Defense is scheduled to start delivering the MiG-35 (NATO: Fulcrum-F) series production to the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2024. These advanced fighter jets have not yet been deployed to the Ukrainian battlefield and will be deployed in due course.
Russian experts say that Russia needs a MiG-35 fleet in anticipation of a large-scale conflict like the one in Ukraine today. As a medium class fighter jet, the need for the MiG-35 is considered quite large. Because, usually in any air force, multirole light fighter jets will account for more than two-thirds of the regular fighter fleet.
While heavy-class fighter aircraft, usually the number is one-third of the total strength of the fighter jets owned. Light fighter jet units are used to carry out most of their daily missions. On this basis, the production of MiG fighter jets will be revived by Moscow, even though in reality Russia is deploying more Su-27s and their derivatives.
Russia itself is currently allegedly producing six series of MiG-35 prototypes where these aircraft are then used by the Aerobatic Team of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Swifts. From its design, the MiG-35 actually has many advantages.
First, this aircraft can carry almost all of Russia's current modern weaponry. The open architecture system is applied to the MiG-35 so that it is very adaptive with the latest system upgrades, both avionics, radar and weapons.
The MiG-35 is equipped with the Zhuk-AM AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar which is competitive with Western products. A number of sources state, this radar can detect any target with an effective spread area of about 5 m² at a distance of about 225 km. This means an air target with an EPR (Effective Scattering Transverse) aka RCS (Radar Cross Section) of 0.5 m² will be detected by the Zhuk-AM MiG-35 radar at a distance of 80 miles (126 km).
The company says the MiG-35 can track up to 30 targets and engage six targets simultaneously. The MiG-35 with a +9G/-3G gravity limit can fly at a maximum speed of Mach 2.25 and an altitude of up to 65,000 feet. The aircraft is powered by two Klimov RD-33MK afterburner turbofan engines.