Above left:
A joint Russian-
Serbian crew
prepares to
depart for a
night sortie in
modernized
MiG-29UB
(9.53A,
‘39 Red’)
during the
‘BARS-2017’
exercise at
Lipetsk-2 air
base. Serbian
Air Force
This image:
Two-seat
MiG-29UB
18352 is one
of the new
arrivals from
Russia. It is
armed with
two UB-32-
rocket
launchers
(for 57mm
S-5 unguided
rockets) and
four R-73E
AAMs.Variant Serial number Construction number Russian side number Russian serial number Year of manufacture Last overhaul Next overhaul
MiG-29 (9.12B) 18101 2960525085 - - 1987 2007 2017
MiG-29 (9.12B) 18102 2960525086 - - 1987 2010 2020
MiG-29 (9.12B) 18108 2960525100 - - 1987 2008 2018
MiG-29UB (9.51) 18301 50903006375 - - 1987 2008 2018
MiG-29 (9.12A) 18151 2960526364 ‘14 Blue’ RF-92185 1989 2011 2018
MiG-29 (9.13) 18201 2960728107 ‘04 Blue’ RF-93709 1989 2010 2017
MiG-29 (9.13) 18202 2960727445 ‘31 Blue’ RF-93713 1989 2014 2021
MiG-29 (9.13) 18203 2960728141 ‘10 Blue’ RF-93717 1989 2014 2021
MiG-29UB (9.51) 18351 50903019679 ‘75 Blue’ RF-92196 1990 2013 2020
MiG-29UB (9.51) 18352 50903025459 ‘101 Blue’ RF-29166 1991 2013 2020SERBIAN AIR FORCE MiG 29S
At the end of the event President Vučić
and Russian Defense Minister Sergey
Shoygu both walked toward the ve
freshly arrived MiG-29s for a symbolic
handover ceremony. The ‘Fulcrums’
displayed various di erent weapon
con gurations. Serials 18151 and 18302
were each loaded with a pair of R-27R
(AA-10 ‘Alamo’) and four R-73E (AA-
‘Archer’) AAMs while serial 18303 had
two PTB-1150 external fuel tanks, two
FAB-100 iron bombs and two R-60MK
AAMs. Serial 18351 carried two B-8M
rocket launchers and four R-60MKs while
18352 was tted with two UB-32-
rocket launchers and four R-73E AAMs.Planned upgrade
The Serbian Air Force has no plans to
operate the newly delivered MiG-29s until
they are upgraded to Serbian standards —
similar to the Slovak Air Force MiG-29AS
upgrade. Aeronautical Plant VZ ‘Moma
Stanojlović’ at Batajnica will carry out the
modernization work by June 2018.
All the MiG-29s will be equipped with
the Russian-made MFI-54 multi-function
display instead of the aging IPV indicator
and PUS-29 con guration display. They
will receive a new communications
system, TACAN, VHF omnidirectional
range/instrument landing system (VOR/
ILS), GPS receiver, emergency locator
transmitter and beacon lights to meet
International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) requirements.
In a subsequent stage between 2019
and 2021 the 514th Aircraft Repair Plant
at Rzhev might further upgrade the jets to
MiG-29SM standard, including Zhuk-ME
radars. The total cost of this would be
€5 million per aircraft. According to the
Serbian president, the value of each of
these six MiG-29s is €50 million without
upgrade and overhaul. Serbia also intends
to buy seven former Belarusian Air Force
MiG-29BM/UBs in 2018.tanks and 30 BRDM-2 amphibious scout
cars. All six MiG-29s were in an airworthy
condition and had been in service with
the 31st Fighter Aviation Regiment
at Millerovo before joining the 116th
Training Center between 2014 and 2016.
They were own to Kubinka air base
where they were temporarily stored
before preparation for delivery to Serbia.Delivery of new MiGs
The six MiG-29s were nally transferred
to RAC MiG’s No 2 Production Complex
where they were inspected and then
prepared for delivery to Serbia. They
were all painted in a two-tone gray
camou age similar to the current
scheme applied on Serbian MiG-29s,
albeit in lighter shades. The ‘Fulcrum-A’
received the serial number 18151, while
the ‘Fulcrum-Cs’ were given serials 18201
to 18203, and the MiG-29UBs received
the serials 18351 and 18352.
Volga-Dnepr was contracted to transfer
the MiGs using one of its An-124-100s
(RA-82045). This made three consecutive
ights on October 2, 3 and 4, carrying
a pair of MiGs on each sortie. Among
the ghters, ‘Fulcrum-C’ serial 18201
that previously served with the VKS as‘04 Blue’ (RF-93709) was not cleared
by the Serbian customs service and
did not disembark the An-124. Instead
it was shipped back to Russia to be
overhauled at the 121st Aircraft Repair
Plant in Kubinka, since it had reached
the end of its mean time between
overhaul (MTBO). The airframe was last
overhauled in 2010.Unveiled to the public
The ‘Freedom 2017’ exercise saw the
Serbian Armed Forces demonstrating
their combat readiness. Participants
included two of the original MiG-29s
— serials 18102 and 18108 — that
intercepted the Serbian Air Force’s sole
airworthy An-26, which was playing the
role of a hijacked aircraft. The pilot of
18102 ‘forced’ the transport to land at
Batajnica.
MiG-29s 18102 and 18108 had received
engines from two of the newly arrived
jets, enabling them to not only take part
in the exercise but to operate on quick
reaction alert (QRA). Previously, the QRA
role was undertaken by MiG-21UMs
equipped only with infra-red-guided
R-60MK (AA-8 ‘Aphid’) air-to-air missiles
(AAMs) and radar range nders.SERBIAN MiG29 | SPECIAL REPORT17
January 2018 http://www.combataircraft.net16-17 Serbia MiG-29 C.indd 17 23/11/2017 11: