Winner of MiG Competition Takes the 35 Up

On 29th May 2007, Wing Commander Sharad ‘Pasha‘ Pasricha, Suryakiran aerobatic team member flew a sortie in the front cockpit of the new-generation MiG-35 fighter as crew with RAC-MiG test pilot Mikhail Belyaev (both in pre-flight photo on right). The flight took place at the RAC ‘MiG’ flight test centre in Zhukovsky (Moscowregion).

The MiG-35 is the latest groundbreaking design from RAC ‘MiG’ and its first demonstration to the public at the Aero India-2007 in Bangalore has been a huge success. The aircraft features enhanced combat effectiveness and survivability, expandable A-A andA-G weapon suite, improved operational performance. It sports cutting-edge active phased-array radar and state-of-the-art optoelectronic systems of detection, sighting, navigation and reconnaissance based on space technologies.

In the course of a 30-minute flight, Sharad Pasricha experienced high angle of attack aerobatics including cobra and tail-slide at up to 9 Gs. All the high-class manoeuvres were first demonstrated by Mikhail Belyaevand then performed by Sharad Pasricha on his own. The Indian pilot having clocked many flying hours on the MiG-29s in the IAF was extremely thrilled to be among the first to test the state-of-the art MiG-35 multi-functional fighter’s capabilities. The sortie was a part of the prize won by the Indian pilot in a competition organised by RAC ‘MiG’ at AeroIndia-2007. The competitors had to suggest new namesfor the gravity-defying MiG-29M OVT manoeuvres that no other aircraft in the world yet performs. The MiG-29MOVT is able to make spatial rotations around three axes and reach an angle of attack from 0 to 360 degrees thanks to its advanced airframe aerodynamics, fly-by-wire and all-aspect thrust vectoring engine.