Russia is using the Paris Air Show to showcase its breathtaking super-manoeuvrable MiG-29 OVT. The multi-role warplane uses three-dimensional thrust vectoring to perform jaw-dropping aerobatics, the likes of which have never been seen before.

Thrust-vectoring – the ability of an aircraft to direct the thrust from its engines to provide upward vertical thrust – is not new. The British Harrier jump-jet pioneered the technology in the 1960s, and the new Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor uses thrust vectoring, also called “Vectoring In Forward Flight” or VIFFing, to perform sophisticated manoeuvres not available to conventional-engined planes.
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Unlike the Raptor which can VIFF its twin Pratt & Whitney engines in just two dimensions, up and down, the OVT can twist in any direction. The prototype OVT successfully demonstrated these capabilities at the Farnborough International Air Show in 2006, outflying America’s premier fighter jet, the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Since then, ace test pilot Pavel Vlasov has been VIFFing his way around the world and wowing spectators with spectacular “Cobra strike” and “tail-slide” manoeuvres, performed at near zero-speed.
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The Russian Klimov engine bureau achieved OVT, or three-dimensional vectoring, with the aid of three hydraulic actuators mounted at 120° intervals around the engine nacelle, which deflect the engine nozzles. Klimov’s system has the nozzles moving 18° in all directions.

The aircraft – which is being offered to potential customers as the MiG-35 – is an open challenger to America’s Raptor and F-35 Lightning II fighters.

So far the MiG-35 exists only as a single prototype, but top gun Vlasov says it is the only prototype in the world that is ready for full series production.

“Currently the OVT system, nozzle vectoring mechanics, computer hardware and software have all been tested,” says Vlasov. “We are fully satisfied with the results and further work to increase aircraft manoeuvrability is now under way.”

Reportedly, the MiG-35 will be offered to clients at a price of about $32 million, about half the cost of the F-16 – and five times cheaper than a Raptor – an offer which many governments may find difficult to refuse.

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