Monday, 20 October 2008

米格-15


http://space.junyue.cn/html_data/75/t-67775.html
http://space.junyue.cn/html_data/75/t-67775.html
米格-15 一诞生,就遇上了朝鲜战争。刚上朝鲜战场的米格-15 对美军的 F-80、F-84 等平直翼喷气战斗机占有很大的速度优势,对依然在服役的二战水平的螺旋桨战斗机更是可怕。1950 年 11 月 8 日,四架 F-80 和 7 架米格-15 打上了遭遇战,速度和火力占优的米格-15 干脆利落地抢占高度,然后一个殷麦曼倒转,从太阳的方向俯冲而下,打下了一架 F-80。这是历史上第一次喷气式战斗机之间的空战,以米格-15 完胜告终。一时间,美国空军被打得一筹莫展,一直到更先进的 F-86“佩刀”式战斗机加盟,才扭转颓局。F-86 和米格-15 的优劣是世界上争论了几十年的话题,一般认为 F-86 的水平机动性较好,米格-15 的垂直机动性较好;米格-15 的加速较快,但容易进入不稳定区;F-86 的速度较快,液压操纵也使飞机的实际机动性较好。米格-15 的另一个特点是其火力强大,其一门 37 炮加两门 23 炮的火力是 F-86 的六挺 12.7 毫米机枪所难以比拟的。吸取米格-9 的教训后,米格-15 的机炮安装在进气口下稍后的地方,容易整体装卸,便于维修,便于装弹,而且开炮时的炮口烟不会进入进气口。但米格-15 的 37 炮和 23 炮的弹道特性很不相同,23 炮的弹道平直,37 炮的弹道弯曲。瞄准同一点时,在一定的距离上,23 炮可以打高,而 37 炮会打低。有时目瞪口呆的美军飞行员会发现自己夹在打高的 23 炮弹和打低的 37 炮弹之间,这时只能祈祷上帝了,胡乱机动可能反而自找没趣。米格-15 的 37 炮只有 45 发炮弹,几个点射就打光了。为了扬长避短,米格-15 通常会抢占高空,然后高速俯冲攻击,然后迅速脱离;F-86 则力求躲过米格-15 的第一板斧,然后在中低空缠斗。但最后的交换比和飞行员的技能之差的关系远大于飞机性能之差。在优秀的飞行员手里,米格-15 和 F-86 可以打出一样的战绩来。有人把米格-15 的成就贬为多亏了英国的“尼恩”发动机。没有“尼恩”发动机就没有米格-15,这是事实。苏联的自主发动机技术或许最终会赶上“尼恩”,但会需要一段时 间。在4 0 年代末、50 年代初航空技术在激烈动荡中发展的时候,谁也说不上来没有“尼恩”的苏联航空技术会走向何方。然而,有了好的发动机不等于就有了一架好的战斗机,英国怎么 没有用“尼恩”研制出一架和米格-15 同样出色的战斗机呢
在朝鲜战争中一炮打响的米格-15 可能是苏联历史上最重要的战斗机了。尽管苏联战斗机在二战中取得了不俗的战绩,但在西方眼里,苏联依然只是一个二流国家,至少在先进的航空领域里无法和高 贵的西方相提并论。米格-15 在鸭绿江上空使美国空军在横扫欧洲后第一次遇到真正的挑战,使西方第一次认识到苏联作为一个超级大国的地位。从此,米格从二战前夕的一个小字辈一跃成为苏 联的战斗机之王,米格的名字和最先进的苏联战斗机连在了一起,直到 90 年代苏-27 异军突起。
二战中美英对德国的战略轰炸给苏联留下了深刻的印象,广岛和长崎的原子弹使国土防空具有了新的重要性,战后喷气式高速轰炸机的发展给苏联的国土防空增加了 新的压力。新组建的国土防空军优先装备米格-15,专门用来拦截高空入侵的轰炸机。但米格-15 的全天候作战能力不足,在夜间和恶劣天候条件下,难以靠目视发现目标,实现有效拦截。48 年夏,苏联空军就提出了在战斗机上安装雷达的要求,以帮助夜间和恶劣天气条件下发现目标。51 年时,国土防空军提出了更具体的双发双座配备雷达的全天候截击机的要求。双发可以提供更高的速度和更大的起飞重量(即更远的航程),双座可以提供一个专职 的雷达操作员。推力最大、性能最先进的克里莫夫 VK-1 发动机是自然的选择,但问题是 VK-1 的直径太大,双发并列的话,机身会异常宽大,翼下双发同样具有阻力大的问题。米高扬别出心裁地采用双发前后安置的方法,前发在机翼前,喷口在中机身下,像 米格-9 一样;后发在机翼后,喷口在机尾。为了提供最好的视界,米高扬把双座并列安置。新飞机称为伊-320

MiG 29 Fulcum

http://ru.truveo.com/The-story-of-a-Legend/id/3038257280#
Fly with the legend fly Mig 29..through its history with this russian propaganda film.hope u enjoy it.The Mikoyan MiG-29 (Russian: МиГ-29) (NATO reporting name "Fulcrum" is a fighter aircraft designed for the air superiority role in the Soviet Union. Developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau, it entered service in 1983 and remains in use by the Russian Air Force as well as in many other nations.The history of the MiG-29, like that of the larger Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker', started in 1969 when the Soviet Union learned of the U.S. Air Force's 'FX' program, which resulted in the F-15 Eagle. The Soviet leadership soon realized that the new American fighter would represent a serious technological advantage over all existing Soviet fighters. The MiG-21 'Fishbed' was agile by the standards of its day, but had deficiencies in range, armament, and growth potential. The MiG-23 'Flogger', developed to match the F-4 Phantom II, was fast and had more space for fuel and equipment, but lacked in maneuverability and dogfighting ability. What was needed was a better-balanced fighter with both good agility and sophisticated systems. In response, the Soviet General Staff issued a requirement for a Perspektivnyi Frontovoi Istrebitel (PFI, roughly "Advanced Frontline Fighter", directly "Perspective Forward Fighter". Specifications were extremely ambitious, calling for long range, good short-field performance (including the ability to use austere runways), excellent agility, Mach 2+ speed, and heavy armament. The aerodynamic design for the new aircraft was largely carried out by TsAGI, the Russian aerodynamics institute, in collaboration with the Sukhoi design bureau.However, in 1971 the Soviets determined that the PFI aircraft would be too expensive to procure in the quantities needed, and divided the requirement into the TPFI (Tyazholyi Perspektivnyi Frontovoi Istrebitel, "Heavy Advanced Tactical Fighter" and the LPFI (Legkiy Perspektivnyi Frontovoi Istrebitel, "Lightweight Advanced Tactical Fighter" programs, the latter paralleling the contemporary USAF decision that led to the "Lightweight Fighter" program and the F-16 Fighting Falcon and YF-17 Cobra. The heavy fighter remained with Sukhoi, resulting in the Su-27 'Flanker', while the lightweight fighter went to Mikoyan. Detailed design work on the resultant Product 9, designated MiG-29A, began in 1974, with the first flight taking place on October 6, 1977.Because it was developed from the same basic parameters laid out by TsAGI for the original PFI, the MiG-29 is aerodynamically broadly similar to the Sukhoi Su-27, but with some notable differences. It is built largely out of aluminium with some composite materials. It has a mid-mounted swept wing with blended leading-edge root extensions (LERXs) swept at around 40°. There are swept tailplanes and two vertical fins, mounted on booms outboard of the engines. Automatic slats are mounted on the leading edges of the wings; they are four-segment on early models and five-segment on some later variants. On the trailing edge, there are maneuvering flaps and wingtip ailerons.

The MiG-29 has hydraulic controls and a SAU-451 three-axis autopilot but, unlike the Su-27, does not have a fly-by-wire control system. Nonetheless, it is very agile, with excellent instantaneous and sustained turn performance, high alpha capability, and a general resistance to spins. The airframe is stressed for 9-g (88 m/s²) maneuvers. The controls have "soft" limiters to prevent the pilot from exceeding the g and alpha limits, but these can be disabled manually. In joint USAF-Luftwaffe exercises, the downgraded MiG-29 9-12A that the Luftwaffe fielded defeated the F-16 Fighting Falcon in close-range combat almost every time using its highly practical infra-red search and track (IRST) sensor and helmet-mounted sight, together with the Vympel R-73 (NATO reporting name AA-11 'Archer') missile.The MiG-29 first saw action in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, where unguided bombs and rockets were used to devastating effect. During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, a Soviet MiG-29 shot down an Afghan Su-20 Fitter which had defected.In the following decade, MiG-29s saw combat in the Gulf War at the hands of Iraqi pilots, who were then thought to be among the best in the region after a decade of war and simmering tensions with Iran. Its success in combat encounters is believed to be mixed, it is generally believed that external factors such as inadequate pilot training skills, air-defense infrastructure, and poor maintenance, rather than the quality of the aircraft, are primarily responsible for this lack of success.Indian MiG-29s saw action during the Kargil War in Kashmir. They provided fighter escort for Mirage 2000s dropping laser-guided bombs on enemy targets and played a major role in maintaining the air superiority.

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Secret USAF MiG


Secret USAF MiG
THE PHOTOGRAPHS appearing an these pages were once a closely-guarded secret. They show a Soviet-built MiG-21F-13 Fishbed-E jet fighter wearing American insignia and being evaluated by the US Air Force in 1968. At that time, similar MiG-21s were being used to combat US warplanes in Vietnam. For years, rumours persisted that Soviet-bloc warplanes were being secretly tested by the US. In March 1998, three decades after American pilots flew the MiG-21 in US skies, the USAF allowed details - and some pictures - to become public. By then, numerous accounts had appeared in the press. HAVE DOUGHNUT was the USAF project name for its flight test evaluation of the MiG-21 between January 23 and April 8, 1968. At the time, the fighter was the top gun. of the communist world, The spelling Donut (see March 2001, p. 73) was not used. Two more Russian fighters were evaluated soon afterwards, HAVE DRILL was the term for American tests of a slightly older MiG-17F Fresco-C jet fighter (a Polish-assembled LIM-5 serial 1007-18, made largely from Soviet-manufactured components (and wearing bort, or nose, number `055') which took place the following year, between January 27 and June 30, 1969. The USAF simultaneously evaluated a second MiG-17F (serial number not provided, bort number `002') in a concurrent project HAVE FERRY. The MiG-21 and the two MiG-17s were flown extensively by Air Force any navy pilots. The MiG-17s were camouflaged, and the MiG-21 flew in natural finish with the US national insignia on both sides of the nose (but not on the wings) and the number '90865' on the tail. Away from the pubic gaze, the MiG-21 was put through performance and stability tests before being flown against Strategic Air Command B-52 Stratofortress and B-58 Hustler bombers. The aim was to judge the ability of the bombers' defensive systems to detect an aerial foe. Later, the MiG-21 was flown against virtually every US military aircraft then in the inventory, from the Navy's A-7E Corsair II to the Air Force's F-4 Phantom II. The Air Force also carried out radar crosssection and propulsion tests on the MiG-21. Though the Americans had not previously had their hands on a MiG-21, the information gleaned appears not to have surprised anyone. Few surprises Air Force officers concluded in a now-declassified intelligence report that the MiG-21's technology "was in most cases comparable to our own" but that the Soviet fighter was cruder and intended to be built on simpler production lines. For example, the MiG-21 had countersunk rivets protruding as much as an eighth of an inch above the skin of the aircraft. Experts were impressed by the fact that the MiG-21 had smokeless engines, making it - unlike the Phantom II - difficult to detect visually. Many of the report's conclusions, once classified 'secret', make it sound as if the USAF could have saved money by consulting a plastic modeller rather than flying an actual MiG-21. For example: "The design concept which appears to have been used by the Soviets was to 'wrap' the smallest airplane possible around the available powerplant to assure maximum speed, altitude, and acceleration performance. This philosophy was carried to the point where bulges in the fuselage were provided at various places to clear equipment and accessories, rather than permit an overall increase in fuselage diameter or cross-section area. The performance of the MiG-21 attests to this approach." Equally superficial is the report's conclusion, also originally classified 'secret': "By US standards for tactical aircraft, the range and payload capabilities of the MiG-21F-13 are very low, but the Soviets did achieve their apparent goal of developing a rugged, simple, highly realiable [sic] and easily maintained fighter with exceptional climb, altitude acceleration and manoeuvrability capabilities, surpassing any other aircraft operational at the time (early 1960) that it went into service. These characteristics are still very good by present-day tactical fighter standards if range and payload are not a prime concern." Mystery Sabreliner The MiG-21 was also flown against a T-39A Sabreliner equipped with an ATR-1 airborne radiometer (producing a distinctive `hump' atop the fuselage of the T-39A, behind the flight deck). This measured the fighter's vulnerability, or lack of it, to airborne infra-red (IR) weapons by evaluating IR emissions at various angles, speeds, power settings, and altitudes. The radiometer could be adjusted to produce data based on the performance of the principal US air-to-air missiles of the era, the AIM-4C/D Falcon and AIM-9G Sidewinder, as well as the IRSTS (infra-red search and tracking system) employed by some US interceptors such as the F-lOlB/F Voodoo. The MiG-2l-versus-T-39A engagements yielded a wealth of information about how to attack a MiG-21 with an IR weapon, but there were also moments when all did not go well. For example: "Mission No.5 was mainly unproductive because of the everworsening background conditions and the low contrail level. The aircraft were 'sandwiched' between a contrail level at 33,000ft (10,058m) and 30,000ft (9,144m)." Several data runs failed to produce useful information because the data was `influenced by other factors'." Similar IR tests were later conducted between the T-39A and the two MiG-17s. Although the USAF claims the external appearance of the IR test T-39A was never classified, one wonders why no photo of the aircraft appears to have surfaced. Both the MiG-21 and a MiG-17 subsequently flew against a T-39A (59-2871) with a different type of radiometer extending from the starboard side of the fuselage but without the ATR-1 unit's distinctive hump. It is unclear whether these subsequent tests were conducted by the same T-39A, after modifications, or whether the ATR-1-equipped Sabreliner was a different aircraft. The Source? Any reference as to who provided the three MiGs 30 years earlier or where the planes were tested is missing from the papers declassified in 1998. There has been speculation that the MiG-21 was flown to Israel on August 16, 1966, by an Iraqi defector, Captain Monir Radfa. The two MiG-17s were brought to Israel on August 12, 1968, by Syrian 1st Lts Walid Adham and Radfan Rifai, who became disoriented and landed in Israel by mistake. Israel reportedly loaned the MiGs as part of a trade-off for a controversial US decision, taken soon after by the Nixon administration, to supply F-4D Phantom Its (these were later joined by F-4Es) to the Jewish state. Flight testing of the MiGs took place at the US airbase at Groom Lake, Nevada. Built in the 1950s as a test site for the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, and known then as 'the Ranch', Groom Lake has been closed to press and public ever since. Officials will not discuss the base. This has led to speculation on everything from a super-secret Aurora spy plane to little green aliens kept in bottles neither of which ever existed. Other names for the location, such as 'Area 51', are the work of imaginative sensationalists. The base is part of a vast complex in Nevada which includes the Nellis test range and the National Test Site, the latter term a euphemism for the US nuclear test location. The USAF's position on the source of the MiGs is that "International agreements preclude release of this information." As to where the aircraft were tested, the official USAF position is that they "were examined and tested at secure locations in order to maintain security and secrecy." The tests were the responsibility of the Foreign Technology Division of Air Force Systems Command (AFSC), a predecessor of today's Air Force Materiel Command. The word `Have' in project names such as HAVE DOUGHNUT (MiG-21) Or HAVE BLUE (the prototype for the F117 stealth fighter) simply mark the project as belonging to AFSC. Secret Base As for the secret base at Groom Lake (today serviced by a US government civilian contract 'airline' operating from McCarran airport in Las Vegas), it should be noted that there is almost certainly a great deal less at the base than some fanciful accounts suggest. Although the concept of a 'black programme' did not exist in the 1960s (it came along in the late 1970s with the first efforts at developing stealth aircraft), there was nothing new about the USAF testing a potential foe's aircraft in secret. In the early 1950s, the USAF tested a Yakovlev Yak-23 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, before packing the fighter into a C-124 Globemaster and returning it to a co-operative owner in Eastern Europe. Tests of the Yak-23 (carried out before the creation of Air Standards Co-ordinating Committee names, which later made the aircraft a Flora) remained secret for more than 40 years after they took place. HAVE DOUGHNUT, HAVE DRILL and HAVE FERRY Must be taken in the context of their times. In the US, conflict between a conservative regime and a growing number of anti-Vietnam protesters had spread from the campuses to the streets, and federal agencies were secretly investigating the loyalty of American citizens - a practice which is now illegal. In the skies of North Vietnam, MiG-17s and MiG-21s (especially the MiG-21s) were performing well against American warplanes. Not long after the MiG-21 and MiG-17 tests in Nevada, the USAF somehow found a way to 'borrow' a MiG-15UTI Midget two-seat trainer and MiG-17 Fresco from the Cambodian Air Force for evaluation. In complete secrecy, the aircraft were flown from Phnom Penh to Phu Cat Air Base, South Vietnam, where they were tested in late 1970. Although the tests were never made public and although they apparently revealed little which had not been learned the previous year at Groom Lake airmen at Phu Cat were able to take snapshots of the MiGs. Testing the MiG Returning to the Nevada tests in 1968 (MiG-21) and 1969 (MiG-17), all three aircraft were put through flight testing. The USAF will not disclose names of pilots or maintainers involved in the MiG tests. Some belonged to the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC). Some of the pilots' comments are thoughtful and sensible - for example: "The cockpit of the aircraft was an antiquated design. It was not possible to enter or exit the cockpit with any degree of urgency. The pilot had to step on the seat type parachute, which was an integral part of the seat. It was then necessary to support himself with his hands on the canopy rails while threading his feet onto the rudder pedal stirrups. It required an average of two minutes to don the parachute harness and hook up the necessary personnel leads after entering the cockpit. The seat was actuated electrically for proper positioning. The rudder pedals were adjusted manually before entering the cockpit. The cockpit was small and it would be difficult for pilots over 6ft (1.8m) tall and well built to fly the aircraft comfortably. The cockpit was approximately the same size as the F-86F (Sabre), with less leg-room." We know from other sources that some of the MiG pilots were USAF Col Robert `Bobby' Bond (who later flew A-7Es in Southeast Asia), Navy Cdr Marland W 'Doc' Townsend (an F-4 Phantom II pilot), Navy Cdr Tom Cassidy (a future admiral), and Navy Cdr Foster S 'Tooter' Teague (who later commanded a carrier air wing in Vietnam). The two MiG-17s flew 198 sorties (usually together) against a variety of US Navy warplanes, ranging from the F-8J Crusader to the A-6A Intruder. Later, separately, they were flown against the USAF F-102A Delta Dagger, F-104A Starfighter, and F-106A Delta Dart. Barely legible photocopies of the MiG17s flying with all of these aircraft appear in the declassified report, but USAF officials say the original photos have been lost over the years. Some of the details of the tests are fairly minuscule: pilots were impressed with the canopy-mounted periscope in the MiG-17 which improves visibility to the rear hemisphere. As for the HAVE DRILL and HAVE FERRY evaluations of two MiG-17s, one might ask why money was spent on testing an aircraft which, even in 1969, was long in the tooth? Indeed, the author of this article was evaluating the MiG-17 fully a decade earlier, albeit without a real aircraft in hand. The report tells us: "Complete volumes of handbooks and specifications were available on the MiG-17 in the intelligence community, but evaluation of the actual aircraft would furnish vital tactical and operational information necessary for the effectiveness and survival of our air warfare teams." The report lists dozens of ways in which the F-4E Phantom (flown against the MiG-17 in 26 sorties) and the F-105D and F-105E Thunderchief (18 sorties) were superior to the Soviet fighter. Later Tests As regards widespread speculation about a secret squadron of MiGs at Groom Lake, operated by the USAF 'Red Hats' unit, no details have been disclosed about post-1969 tests of Soviet aircraft. Published speculation holds that at one time or another, the US had every warplane in the Soviet arsenal in the Nevada desert. Only the existence of at least two MiG-23 Floggers can be confirmed by actual sightings, and speculation may be exaggerated. The 'black programme' begun in the 1970s to gain intelligence by flying additional Soviet-built fighters in the US is reported to have peaked in the late 1980s and ended in the 1990s. On April 26, 1984, Lt Gen Robert M `Bobby' Bond who had flown the `HAVE' MiGs 15 years earlier-was killed in the crash of a MiG-23 Flogger on the Nellis range. This was one of the few occasions on which the USAF could not cover up post-1969 flights of MiGs. Sadly, it was to have been the general's farewell flight, marking the end of a fine career. Instead, it may have marked the beginning of the end of what were now called `black' programmes in the Nevada desert. The highprofile Bond mishap was a MiG accident the US Air Force could ill afford. As for the secrecy, most of it was based on politics rather than real security concerns. Obviously, the Soviets knew what was going on, but the tests of these aircraft were kept secret, primarily to protect the identity (or identities) of the country (countries) which provided the MiGs flown in Nevada. Comments: This story raises a number of questions for contains certain significant inconsistencies, which, nevertheless, does not make it any less interesting. Perhaps it should be mentioned that the Soviet VVS had an opportunity to study a pair of F-14 Tomcats and extensively test them against current Soviet fighters. These tests were not conducted in the middle of a desert, but just outside of Moscow - at the Zhukovsky Flight Test Centre, then known to the American spooks as "Ramenskoye" airbase (because of the Ramenskoye highway passing nearby). No photos or any other official information regarding these tests were ever released, although it is known that the Tomcats came from the only possible source: Iran. It is also known that one Russian organization consistently participated in testing of foreign aircraft and their components - the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, known by its Russian abbreviation "TsAGI" (www.tsagi.ru). Among the aircraft tested at this facility were the two F-86 Sabres captured by the VVS in Korea and numerous other foreign aircraft obtained during various local conflicts, in particular during the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as reconnaissance aircraft shot down over or near the USSR. Another organization to frequently participate in this research was the Moscow Aviation Institute or MAI (www.mai.ru).