Re: First serial produced Mig-35's delivered
Posted: 13 Nov 2019, 03:43
Corsair1963 wrote:Yes, not uncommon to see Russian Fighters flying around armed with R-27 /AA-10 Alamo Missiles. Which, are equivalent to later models of the AIM-7 Sparrow........
More than uncommon; every single intercept video I've looked at has the Flankers armed with R-27s.
Near as I can tell, the only R-77-1 deployment has been with Su-35s in Syria.
milosh wrote:Same company is making R-37 and R-77 seekers so R-37 is probable priority especially if you check R-27ER1 capabilities. With PESA radars there isn't some huge benefit of R-77-1 over R-27ER1. In fact I would even say R-27ER1 is probable better in terminal phase if missile speed is low (grid fins aren't efficient when speed drops below Mach 2) To me R-77 wasn't design to be excellent BVR missile (Soviets were working on R-37 and R-27ER) but to be jack of all trades (excellent low BVR range capability which grid fins provide at higher Mach numbers).
R-27ER1 doesn't sound very good according to Russian and Ukranian sources, with claims of only 93 to 100 km maximum range:
http://roe.ru/eng/catalog/aerospace-sys ... e/r-27er1/
http://www.artem.ua/en/produktsiya/avia ... es-r-27er1
And I suspect you might be right about the R-77 design goal; the grid fins seem counterproductive for a BVR missile. Interestingly, the K-77M reportedly changes to more conventional fins, which will likely result in a missile much more competitive with the AIM-120.