Key Points and Summary – Russia’s MiG-35 fighter, once hyped as a “fourth-generation-plus” replacement for the MiG-29, has been a commercial and military failure.
-Despite being marketed to numerous countries, its high costs and underwhelming performance—essentially an upgraded Cold War design with minimal stealth—have resulted in zero export sales. To date, Russia has only built six aircraft, which are used by an aerobatic team.
MiG-35 Fighter from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-While there are claims of large-scale production starting in 2025 due to the war in Ukraine, experts cited in the report remain skeptical of Russia’s ability to overcome its significant manufacturing and manpower shortages.
Why Russia Tried And Failed WIth The MiG-35
The Russian Air Force’s MiG-35 was supposed to effectively replace the MiG-29; but it has been a failure.
The Russians tried and failed to generate interest in the foreign marketplace for the newer MiG. Russia pushed the aircraft as a fourth-generation-plus aircraft that would bridge the gap between older fourth-generation jets and fifth-generation stealth platforms.
But the aircraft’s underwhelming performance and high costs have doomed most any hope to sell it to foreign nations.
To date, Russia has only built six MiG-35s. Those six are used by the Russian Strizhi aerobatic demonstration team, presumably to drum up foreign sales, yet no one wants it.
The MiG-35 Was Not The Answer To The US F-35
The MiG-35 was supposed to be the Russian answer to the American-built F-35. However, that characterization was mere hype. Designed more as something of an answer to the F-16, rather than the newer joint strike fighter, the airframe simply doesn’t measure up.
In a review of the aircraft, The War Zone wrote, “The MiG-35 is a far cry from the basic and strictly limited capability MiG-29.” However, despite advancements in the cockpit, radar, sensors, and other features, this is still, in essence, a MiG-29.
The MiG-35 is just another old Cold War design with minimal stealth technology and has suffered from extended testing, a lack of spare parts, logistical backlogs, and concerns about the lack of advanced technology. This makes it an undesirable export airframe.
The MiG-35’s Brief History
The Russian aircraft industry began work in the 1980s on an updated MiG-29, which it eventually dubbed the MiG-35 to make it attractive to foreign buyers. The Kremlin unveiled the aircraft at the 2007 Aero India air show in Bangalore, India. At the time, Russia was trying to sell the MiG-35 to New Delhi.
The Russian Aerospace Forces initially planned to buy 37 MiG-35s, but later announced that it would need to procure more than 170 of the light fighters.
In 2017, an improved MiG-35 was unveiled in Moscow. Upgrades included a new fly-by-wire flight control system, improved cockpit, upgraded avionics, and an integrated precision-guided targeting capability for air-to-ground weapons. Pilots liked the cockpit design and the fly-by-wire system.
There were reports of the Strizhi aerobatic team flying combat missions in Ukraine, but no credible news sources have confirmed this.
In 2017, Yuri Slyusar, president of the Russian Aircraft Building Corporation, said the MiG-35 would lead the way in the aircraft arena.
“The fighter aircraft has been specially designed for warfare amid increased intensity conflicts and highly dense air defense. The available high indicators have been achieved thanks to a set of onboard equipment mounted on the plane, along with a new optical location system and radar signature reduced by several times,” he added.
Russia’s attempts to sell the MiG-35 to India, Argentina, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Peru, Myanmar, and Vietnam have all been in vain. The fact that the Russian Aerospace Forces has purchased only six has not helped matters. And even if they could sell the aircraft, Russian manufacturing is not in a position to build MiG-35s in the numbers needed for export, due to financial limitations.
Russian Propaganda Struck Out On the MiG-35
Russian propaganda tried to hype the MiG-35, in typical Russian fashion, and the plane’s boosters seemed to fixate on laser weapons. Russia Today reported in 2018 that, “Russia launched flight tests of the MiG-35 with a view to potentially using laser guns back in January 2017.”
The hype will quickly move on to the Russian sixth-generation MiG-41, which is supposedly in development. While Russia lacks a fifth-generation aircraft built in numbers, Moscow apparently plans on skipping a generation.
The MiG-41 is sometimes reported to be only a year or two from flying and entering service. Such reports often come with sci-fi-like claims that the plane will operate at the edge of space and carry space lasers.
Of course, reputable sources note that the MiG-41 is at the pre-drawing board stage and is unlikely to enter service until the 2040s, at the earliest.
Message to the U.S. Air Force: We Look Like Failure
According to Slyusar, the MiG-35 will enter large-scale production in 2025.
That decision is driven by the need to deliver large numbers of the most modern aircraft possible to the Russian Aerospace Forces. This turnaround in the MiG-35’s fortunes would be almost entirely a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
A former Mikoyan engineer told Breaking Defense, “This all sounds great for the people involved in the MiG program, but what are the real possibilities? The production plants have not had to engage in production of large numbers of MiG aircraft for decades. Do they still know how to do this?”
The engineer added: “One also must remember that Russia is currently in a position where the defense plants are suffering major manpower shortages. Where will the MiG factory find enough people with the level of experience required to start building these aircraft in large numbers?”
The Russians tried to market the MiG-35 as a fourth-generation-plus aircraft. However, given the improvements in advanced stealth aircraft and integrated air defense systems, the aircraft’s lack of stealth technology would make it a hard sell.
Russia has no foreign market. In fact, it can’t even sell more than a handful of these jets to its own forces.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
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