The Cold War might have ended several decades ago, but the mystique of Russian fighter jets is still as strong as ever. The Soviet fighters have long held a fascination for the U.S. defense community, leading to some truly remarkable acquisitions and valuations over the years.
One of the most significant moments in this ongoing quest came when the U.S. acquired the MiG-29 Fulcrum, a twin-engine fighter jet developed by the Soviet Union to counter U.S. fighters like the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. When it first became operational in 1977, the MiG-29 represented a quantum leap in Soviet aviation technology, proof, if any were needed, that the Soviets were finally catching up with their American counterparts.
The collapse of the USSR provided the U.S. military with an opportunity of a lifetime to get hold of such advanced aircraft. One memorable sale was when the U.S. bought 21 MiG-29s from the Republic of Moldova, an independent country carved out of the former Soviet Union and troubled by economic difficulties. There was a fear that Moldova might sell these fighter jets to Iran, a nation with nuclear ambitions, and it hastened the U.S.’s move. These aircraft were in turn dispatched to the Americans, who disassembled them down to the last nut and bolt and tested them to gather further information on the aircraft’s capabilities.
The MiG-29s also attracted the interest of the Israelis. In a clandestine transaction, they bought three of these mighty aircraft from an unknown East European country. The Israeli pilots flew extensive trials, even pitting the jets in mock dogfights with their own F-15 and F-16 fighters. To this, a State of Israel pilot, Major N, testified that the capabilities of the MiG-29 “equal and sometimes even exceed those of the F-15 and F-16 jets.” In this way, it had high maneuverability with an advantage in close combat due to a better weight-to-thrust ratio.
The U.S. military does not appear to be satisfied with just the MiG-29. Over these years, they have managed to acquire several variants of the MiG series aircraft, such as the MiG-17 “Fresco,” MiG-21 “Fishbed,” and MiG-23 “Flogger.” Those acquisitions were part of a secret program known as Project Constant Peg, which had trained personnel of the U.S. Air Force in air combats against those Russian jets.
The MiG-21, for instance, was first interrogated by the U.S. when an Iraqi defector flew one to Israel in 1966. The aircraft was then forwarded to the U.S. for evaluation under Project Have Doughnut. Such appraisals provided invaluable insight, especially when American forces were pitted against the increasingly formidable MiG-21 in Vietnamese skies.
Extensive testing of the MiG-23, obtained from Egypt, was conducted under the project name HAVE PAD. It was the run-through of a host of tests to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of the aircraft, giving vital data to the American pilots.
Perhaps the most interesting acquisition was the MiG-25 “Foxbat,” a supersonic, high-altitude reconnaissance plane. In 1976, a Soviet pilot defected to Japan in a MiG-25, which gave the U.S. an extremely rare chance to inspect this advanced aircraft. With its unsurpassed speed and stratospheric reach, the MiG-25 was a brilliant reconnaissance platform.
It is in this regard that the efforts made by the U.S. military in procuring and analyzing these Russian fighter jets underscore the value of knowing one’s enemies. The U.S., through this careful assessment, has been able to learn a lot of things that have influenced the steps taken in technological strides of its own in terms of aviation and combat methods. Indeed, with a shifting geopolitical landscape, what was learned from those Cold War jets only becomes more relevant.