Turkish MiG-29 Fulcrums

[Spinners 15,986]

Mikoyan MiG-29A 'Fulcrum-A' - Turkish Air Force, 1999

The coup d'état in Cyprus on July 15th, 1974 by a combination of the Greek army in Cyprus, the Cypriot National Guard and the Greek military junta ousted President Makarios III and replaced him with a dictatorship led by Nikos Sampson who declared the establishment of the Hellenic Republic of Cyprus. The coup was viewed as being illegal by the United Nations and was of huge concern to Turkey who feared that Sampson's next aim would be the total annexation of Cyprus by Greece. Within days Turkey had invaded Cyprus (without any resistance from the British forces based on the island) to quickly occupy 37% of the northern part of the island and expelling about 142,000 Greek Cypriots living in the north. War between Greece and Turkey seemed imminent but was averted when Sampson's coup d'état collapsed a few days later and Makarios returned to power triggering the collapse of the Greek military junta in Athens which had failed to confront the Turkish invasion.

After the events of 1974, the United States imposed an arms embargo on both Turkey and Cyprus leading to sudden tension and mistrust between Turkey and the United States and pushing Turkey towards the Soviet Union leading to a vote in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to become officially neutral (i.e. non-aligned) with President Fahri Korutürk announcing a huge increase in military spending with France and the Soviet Union gaining the most. In early 1975, the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) started to receive Dassault Mirage F.1's to replace embargoed Aeritalia F-104S Starfighters and also Sukhoi Su-17M's to supplement the handful of Phantom F-4E's that had escaped the embargo. Whilst still firmly in it's development phase, Turkey became the first international customer of the MiG-29 when the Turkish Air Force placed an order for 80 MiG-29A's in 1980 which entered service in March 1985.

Skin Credit: EricJ

 

[sukhoy34 1,592]

Love this bro 

[tiopilotos 2,519]

Quite interesting that turkish Mig-29s were modified to use AA-7 apex. 

[+Gunrunner 314]

I suppose it's because in typical soviet fashion the exported Fulcrums were "monkey models", probably equipped with MiG-23 radar and weapon systems. Think of it as the MiG-29 version of the MiG-23MS. What's surprising is that a high-profile client like Turkey would be given a version downgraded to that point, until you factor that Turkey is only at odds with the US, and through other western countries might compromise the MiG-29 radar and weapons system, so it makes sense to only give them a functional but outdated system.

[tiopilotos 2,519]

The upgraded AA-7 (R-24) should be similar in performance with AIM-7F which was an effective missile for its time. So even if they didn't operate the AA-10, they still had a good BVR missile. 

[Spinners 15,986]

Carrying the AA-7 does foul the flaps.