The Mikoyan design bureau celebrates its 60th anniversary this week. Established on December 8, 1939, its task was to develop the I-200 high-speed single-engine single-seat interceptor.

MiG-29SE

An experimental prototype of this aircraft was flown in April 1940 and immediately went into mass production (in all, 3,300 copies were built). It was given the name MiG-1 (and later the MiG-3 to reflect some design changes), where "MiG" stood for "Mikoyan and Gurevich", the two people who headed the design team. The MiG-3 was the fastest fighter aircraft of its day with a top speed of 640 km/h.

The success of the MiG-3 was repeated many times in other designs by the Mikoyan and Gurevich team. The airplanes developed by the Mikoyan design bureau have set 72 world speed records. The company developed the first Soviet operational jet fighter, the MiG-9, the world's first operational supersonic fighter, the MiG-19, and the world's first operational Mach 3 fighter, the MiG-25. After service entry in 1970, the MiG-25 remains the fastest operational fighter aircraft in the world.

Admittedly, MiG fighters, whose name has become synonymous for the Russian air power, were never "race cars." The heroes of wars in Korea and Vietnam, the MiG-15 and MiG-17, whose production run exceeded 20,000 copies, carried three big cannons (one 37-mm and two 23-mm) whose fire brought down many hostile aircraft, including heavy four-engine bombers.

MiG-21-93

Mikoyan engineers also developed the world's most popular supersonic fighter, the MiG-21. It was produced in the Soviet Union from 1959 to 1987 at three factories (in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Tbilisi) which assembled 10,158 such airplanes. In addition, the MiG-21 was in production in Czechoslovakia, India and China. It participated in many wars, fairing well against its US counterparts. MiG-21s scored many kills in aerial battles, including two confirmed kills of B-52 strategic bombers in 1972.

The MiG-21 has proved not only an efficient combat aircraft, but a robust, reliable and easy-to-maintain airplane. Having recognized its merits, a number of countries have decided to upgrade their MiG-21s for service in the next century. The Indian Air Force, for instance, ordered modernization of 125 MiG-21bis into the MiG-21-93I variant. The 93I, with its modern Phazatron Kopyo radar and Vympel RV-AEE long-range missiles, will be a hard opponent for much "younger" fighter designs.

During the 60 years since foundation, the Mikoyan design bureau has developed 450 aircraft designs. Some two-thirds of those were built in the form of experimental prototypes, and 130 entered mass production. In all, nearly 60,000 MiGs have been built (exclusive of "unlicensed" Chinese copies). The most recent of them are in service with 50 nations.

Artyem Mikoyan headed the design team until its death in 1969, while his friend Mikhail Gurevich retired in 1964. Mikoyan was succeeded at the post of general designer by Rostislav Belyakov, who kept that position until 1997. Belyakov continues to stay with the company, carrying the title of "honored general designer." In his recent interview with Russian journalists, Belyakov said that although being always innovative, the Mikoyan engineers have always had a pragmatic approach to development of new aircraft and never committed themselves to unrealistic projects.

MFI

Belyakov considers the MFI (Multifunctional Front-line Fighter), a heavy-weight stealthy combat aircraft of the fifth generation, as still having chances to reach operational status. The first flyable prototype of the MFI, the Article 1.44, was rolled out in 1994, but has not been flown yet due to financial problems (its maiden flight is now postponed for January 2000). Belyakov said that although technically the aircraft was "almost ready" to fly long ago, a lack of funding for the project did not allow them to solve the technical and financial problems with high-speed actuators and Lyulka-Saturn Al-41F engines.

Explaining his position on the future of the most recent MiG, Belaykov said that the Russian Defense Ministry "shall place an order for the MFI - let it be one for not many copies - because this is the only design able to compete with the F-22." Among the MFI's qualities are a supersonic speed at non reheated thrust, all-round surveillance with radars and optronic systems, a missile protection system, a high speed at low and high altitudes, super agility, high angles of attack at low speed, low radar signature and voice commanding capability for the pilot. "The MFI is ahead of its time and by placing it in series production we will bring our aviation industry to a quality new level," Belyakov said.

Nikitin and Belyakov

Meantime, Belyakov acknowledged that the company is working on a project of a future light fighter, similar to the JSF. This is meant to be an affordable multifunctional combat aircraft, the main element in the backbone of the Russian air force in the next century.

Admittedly, the MiG developer, despite its worldwide fame, is now in a difficult situation threatening the very existence of the company. In 1995, the Mikoyan design bureau was absorbed by the then-powerful VPK MAPO finance-industrial group. VPK MAPO was meant to be the first in the Russian union of developers and manufacturers of MiG fighters, their on-board equipment and weapons systems. At first the merger did well on the market: in 1995 alone it delivered 36 MiG-29s to Malaysia, India and Slovakia. Later, however, the market demand for the MiG-29 went down, chiefly because the VPK MAPO did not manage to get a multifunctional version of the aircraft available for sale.

The general trend on the international market has been the move to multirole aircraft. At the same time, MiG-29 production models have largely remained air defense fighters. In the early 1990s a deeply modernized version of the aircraft was developed and put to tests, the MiG-29M. Six such aircraft were built, along with two MiG-29K deck fighters with a similar avionics suite. However, in 1991 the Russian air force lost interest in the "M", and the state funding was cancelled.

MiG-29SMT

At the same time, certain MiG-29 users were expressing interest in a cost efficient avionics upgrade on their in-service aircraft. Mikoyan replied with the MiG-29SMT, which flew in November 1997. It was an ordinary MiG-29SE airframe outfitted with multifunctional liquid-crystal color displays, new central computer and navigation system. Performance of the fire-control system was improved by installation of additional processors in parallel with the existing hardware. The additional computing capacity allowed the Topaz radar additional working modes, such as terrain mapping and selection of ground targets. The bulk of the work on the onboard equipment was done by the Russian Avionics company.

The avionics upgrade allows the MiG-29SMT to hit pinpoint ground with guided air-to-ground weapons. Outwardly, the MiG-29SMT differs from the SE in having a large "hump" on the fuselage for storage of extra fuel, thus eliminating one of the main deficiencies of earlier versions, namely their limited range. Mikoyan's proposal to upgrade in-service MiGs into the SMT variant was favorably met by the Russian air force. The SMT, however, became the cause for the recent turbulence inside the engineering team.

MiG-31M

In February 1999, the Russian government appointed a new head of VPK MAPO. The high position was given to Nikolai Nikitin, former Su-27M (Su-35) project manager at Sukhoi. The cause to the appointment of a "no-MiG man" to the highest post in the MiG group was the result of the government being fed up with internal wars between centers of power in VPK MAPO. Having assessed the financial, economic and technical situation at VPK MAPO, Nikitin came up with a plan for the company's radical re-structurization and further development. Its main element is the transfer to civilian production (such as setting up production of Tupolev Tu-334 100-seat jetliner at Znamya Truda factory, the MiG-29 manufacturer), with reduction of the military programs to the level of the real funding (to 20% of VPK MAPO's industrial capacity).

This move made a group of managers and engineers unhappy (reportedly 14 people, including Novikov, chief designer for the MiG-29SMT) from the Engineering Center "Mikoyan design bureau" (which is the current official designation of the MiG developer). These people have publicly expressed their intention to move to the Russian Avionics company headed by Mikhail Korzhuyev, formed Mikoyan general director and general designer. Korzhuyev has a reputation of "MiG-29SMT's father," and also that of the Su-30K upgraded version (the Aircraft 302). Both these aircraft have Russian avionics equipment; they have been evaluated by Russian air force and received very favorable reports.

Reportedly, the Russian Defense Ministry is not happy with a quarrel between heads of VPK MAPO and Russian Avionics on the intellectual property concerning the MiG-29SMT project. Some newspapers suggested that the Ministry might choose to give its support the Russian Avionics and award it the main contract for MiG-29 modernization. As the situation continues to evolve with much speculation in the Russian mass media, it would be too early to draw a conclusion on the MiG-29SMT prospects.

One thing is now certain, though. In the current difficult situation caused by insufficient state funding, the Mikoyan design team - over 3,000 people - continue to live and work on new designs and the modernization of older products. In so doing, Mikoyan people continue to practice their traditional creative approach to aircraft development business. Their main principle had once been formulated by one of the company's heads as "to give the customer not what he wants but what he needs." Someone might say that this will not work in our "consumer society," but MiG people are sure it will, as it did throughout the 60 years of history of their famed company.