New MiG designed to stop Cruise

Press, 6 January 1978, Page 5

New MiG designed to stop Cruise

NZPA-Reuter Washington The Soviet Union appears to be changing the role of its newest jet fighter from an interceptor into a Cruisemissile killer, according to informed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation sources. They said that an ex« perimental unit of the Russian Air Force was testing the aircraft, the latest in the Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG} series, deep inside the Soviet Union. The sources said that when the plane had first become known to American intelligence services it had appeared to be designed fot use as a dogfighter against the latest American tactical fighters, the Fl 6, the Fls Eagle and the FlB Navy Hornet. But now the Russians are emphasising the ability of the aircraft, the MiG 29, to kill low-flying targets such as the nuclear-tipped American Cruise missile, according to the sources.

The plane would also be able to destroy earth, skimming nuclear strike aircraft trying to penetrate to Soviet targets such as the Anglo-Italian-German Tornado and the American Fill. The sources said that tha Russians were testing the plane with a look-down radar which permits the crew to differentiate low-fly-ing targets from the back, ground "clutter” of trees, hills and buildings.

The Soviet Air Force is also believed to be perfecting “snap down” air-to-air missiles which dive down on low targets from aircraft flying above. The new MiG is capable of carrying up to six air-to-air missiles which are guided either by radar in the parent plane or by the heat from the victim’s engine exhaust. The sources said that the twin-engined MiG 29 probably would not be deployed into squadron use for several years.