MiG-37, originally from the USSR - the prototype of all the vaunted US stealths

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

No one doubts the professionalism of Soviet designers, the production of MiG aircraft began quite a long time ago. All developments were top secret and any leakage of information was severely punished. And so we made the MiG-39.

As we know, information about the development of this fighter was given to a British scientist by one of the Soviet scientists, after which the British reported this to the United States. After the Americans realized that Russia would certainly maintain air supremacy, they immediately rushed to create their own fighter. But they did not succeed in surpassing the MiG-39, not even surpassing, but at least creating something equal in terms of combat characteristics, the Americans did not succeed.

After the information leaked, the secrecy rating of the development was increased, and the countries that learned about the MiG-39 began to improve the old or create new aircraft that will be similar in their characteristics to the Soviet design. As stated, the first prototype of the MiG-39 was created back in 1988.

The plane really turned out to be very good. He was armed with 30mm guns, not bad missiles and bombs, which are good enough even by today's standards. Western experts considered the main feature of the MiG-39 to be its maximum speed of 5310 km / h.

It should be said that the plane was not released for a long time, since NATO, due to information leakage, knew its main combat characteristics and because of this, the development of the fighter continued and entered a new aircraft, namely the Su-47 Berkut.

MiG-37 - the most mysterious stealth aircraft in the USSR

The MiG-37 is rightfully considered the most mysterious military aircraft. No one knows where the information about the existence of this aircraft came from. The West was sure that the MiG-37 was indeed developed, and the Italian specialists who produced the Italeri equipment even designed a model of the mysterious aircraft.

Experts believe that the reason for this situation was the struggle that was waged between the US aerospace companies to create stealth aircraft. The representatives of these companies were supposed to force the authorities to allocate money to them, so the story of the mysterious MiG-37 Ferret appeared. It turns out that the aircraft was designed specifically for the US Air Force. The adventure was a success - American companies received a long-awaited grant. US specialists quickly spent all the money on the modernization of the air fleet. This version is confirmed by the extraordinary similarity of the MiG-37 to the Northrop ATF concept.

The first message about the real existence of the MiG-37 aircraft appeared in the British media. Journalist Nick Cook said that a fifth-generation aircraft was built by Soviet specialists. He even specified that the military air "ship" has a turbojet afterburner. There was also information about the use of a multi-axis thrust mechanism in the aircraft design. Conventional newspaper articles were quickly published in scientific journals.

The American media, talking about their F-117A, mentioned the MiG-37 stealth aircraft and published a photo of the aircraft landing at sunset. The airliner itself was not visible - because of such a panorama, the plane turned into a shadow. Experts noticed the similarities between the F-117A and the MiG-37, but they also noticed a difference. It turned out that the propulsion systems did not merge with the wings and fairings, as in the American aircraft. The wings were not trapezoidal, but elongated. The picture is said to have been tampered with. Russian experts, however, believe that the photograph depicted the Su-47 "Berkut".

Those who believed in the existence of the MiG-37 say that the plane was first taken to the skies in 1988. Foreign experts also claim that the mysterious aircraft was designed on the basis of the Su-37 and MiG-29. The expected technical characteristics include the following: the length of the aircraft is 13.56 m, the height is 3.28 m, and the width is 10.21 m. The aircraft weighs 16 tons. The MiG-37 could reach speeds of up to 5310 km / h. The aircraft's armament consists of two 30 mm cannons, R-23 air-to-air missiles, as well as Kh-23, Kh-28, Kh-25 projectiles and various aerial bombs.