The prospect of the Iranian Air Force deciding to skip the Su-35S fighter to choose the MiG-29SMT is being mentioned by the media.
In early September, Iran’s Air Force Commander General Hamid Vahedi said that Russia’s purchase of Su-35S fighter jets is being considered by this country, leading to the prediction that 64 fighters of this type will be produced by Russia. and delivered to the customer.
However, after the above information was published, a new interesting development appeared, that is, Iran wants to have new fighters in a short time, but this is considered impossible in the conditions of Russia Currently.
Under the effect of Western sanctions, Russia is seriously lacking components to assemble this fighter, the most significant of which are the electronic circuit board and high-speed processor chip, so it is difficult to discuss. aircraft delivered on time.
In addition, the cost of the Su-35S is considered too high, up to over $85 million each, which is a great burden for Iran when the economy of this Middle Eastern country is in trouble, so it is possible that Tehran will choose a different fighter line.
The main emerging candidate is the MiG-29SMT, when this fighter has many features close to the MiG-29A that the Iranian Air Force is using, Russia can deliver fast when taking advantage of the fuselage in an unfinished condition from the Soviet era.
The unit price of each MiG-29SMT is estimated at only about 40 million USD, much cheaper than the Su-35S while the tactical features are at an asymptotic level. It should be noted that the addition of a large number of modern fighters in the short term is paramount to Iran when the geopolitical situation in the region is constantly evolving.
A particularly noticeable feature in this fighter is the “humpback”. The integration of more fuel tanks to increase the flight range makes the back of the MiG-29SMT protrude, creating a distinctive line.
Russia said that the combat effectiveness of the MiG-29SMT is 2.5 times higher than that of the MiG-29A, and the operating costs are reduced by about 40%. MiG-29SMT has a length of 17.3 m, a wingspan of 11.9 m, and a height of 4.4 m.
The maximum take-off mass of the MiG-29SMT fighter is up to 37 tons, so it is almost equivalent to the F-15C of the heavy fighter line, this aircraft is controlled by only 1 pilot.
The MiG-29SMT fighter is equipped with two RD-33MK engines with a dry thrust of 55 kN and up to 88 kN when power is turned on, making this fighter capable of flying at a maximum speed of Mach 2, radius. 700 km combat.
The MiG-29SMT fighter is equipped with Zhuk-ME passive phased array radar that can detect targets from a distance of 120 km, it detects 10 targets simultaneously and chooses to destroy 4 of them at the same time.
In particular, the weapon load of the MiG-29SMT has increased from 3.5 tons (first variant) to 4.5 tons with 7 pylons (6 on the wings and 1 under the belly, usually fitted with an auxiliary oil tank).
The upgrade to the avionics gives the MiG-29SMT the ability to use most of Russia’s high-precision weapons, including air-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles.
For example, the MiG-29SMT can carry the R-77 active radar-guided long-range air-to-air missile, the Kh-29T/TE air-to-surface missile, the Kh-31A supersonic anti-ship missile, and the Kh-31A supersonic anti-ship missile. Kh-31P anti-radar fire and guided bombs.
