Syrian MiG-29 is capable of fighting hand-to-hand with US F/A-18

Syrian media has just released a series of images of the country's MiG-29 equipped with the R-77 - a weapon that can fight hand-to-hand with the new generation of American fighters.

According to Defense Talk, Russia's decision to provide Vympel R-77 air-to-air missiles to Syria to equip on MiG-29 fighters is to prepare for the scenario of air conflict with any modern Western fighter jet.

According to Vympel Company - the manufacturer of R-77, this missile is far superior to older generation missiles R-24, R-27, foreign missiles such as AIM-7F Sparrow, Skyflash, Matra super 530F, according to some characteristics it is even superior to AMRAAM AIM-120A missile equipped as standard on US fighters.

Syrian MiG-29 fighter equipped with R-77 missile.

R-77 medium-range guided missile equipped with multiple guidance systems. The missile is used against targets: super-maneuverable aircraft, cruise missiles, "surface-to-air" and "air-to-air" missiles, tactical bombers, helicopters.

The missile can destroy targets from any direction at any angle, day and night, adverse weather conditions in high thermal radiation and electromagnetic interference environments, according to the "fire and forget" principle, using multi-channel guidance.

The R-77 missile can shoot down flying targets at speeds of up to 3,600 km/h at altitudes from 20 m to 25 km.

The R-77 missile guidance has a combined mode: inertial guidance by radio signal from the aircraft and switching the self-guidance mode by missile guidance radar with the computer, in which the target interception distance is determined by the 9B1348E self-guidance head.

In case the homing head's target lock fails, the computer automatically switches to the aircraft's inertial guidance mode, reestablishing the target intercept trajectory or directing the missile to another target.

In heavy interference situations, the missile's homing head performs passive homing from the source of electromagnetic interference pulses and locks onto the target using the interference signal and attacks the source of electromagnetic interference pulses - the enemy aircraft. If the air combat takes place at short distances - close combat, the missile will be in homing mode and will not use the inertial guidance mode.

In conditions of dense combat environment, the radar sight cannot provide information about the range and speed of approach to the target, the missile is guided along a special trajectory. Then the missile guides itself by electromagnetic radiation from enemy aircraft. The missile is equipped with a laser detonator.

The missile's warhead is a bar-burst fragmentation warhead featuring small concave blast effect elements. The bar-shaped fragments are arranged in a way that when they explode, they create a cloud of steel fragments that tear apart the target.

The shaped charge components that make up the warhead are intended to destroy targets that require high precision in the missile defense mode of fighter aircraft. For example, intercepting enemy air defense missiles.

The R-77 air-to-air missile is equipped with a 22.5 kg fragmentation warhead with a proximity laser fuse. The missile can effectively destroy targets at a distance of 80 km. Currently, the R-77 is the standard weapon for the 5th generation fighter Su-57.

Defense Talk magazine commented that with the R-77 missile, Syria's old generation MiG-29 fighter jet is completely capable of fighting hand-to-hand with the current US Air Force's F/A-18 or F-16.

According to Baodatviet