Some MiG-29s were painted up to make them resemble the F-15—the wingtips and stabilator tips were painted yellow with a black outline; this visually altered their shape, making them appear to be raked as on the F-15 when seen from a distance
The MiG-29 was created in response to a new class of American fighter aircraft, especially the F-15 and F-16. Although it was primarily developed for air defense, this versatile aircraft was also capable of carrying out ground attack missions. The Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau (MiG OKB) was assigned the job of developing a “frontal,” or tactical, fighter for the Soviet Air Force’s Frontal Aviation Regiments. Drawing on all available technical information about the most advanced Western aircraft, MiG engineers began work on the MiG-29 in the early 1970s. The first prototype took to the air on October 6, 1977. Soon afterward, in November 1977, U.S. reconnaissance satellites identified the aircraft, and NATO assigned it the reporting name “Fulcrum.”
Production of the aircraft began in 1982, with deliveries to Frontal Aviation units following in 1983. In contrast, the U.S. Air Force had fielded its first operational F-15As much earlier, in 1976, while the F-16As entered active service in 1979, four years before the MiG-29 reached units.
In 1989, the first MiG-29s were assigned to the 1521st Aviation Base at Maryy-1 Air Base. This unit occupied a unique role within the Soviet Air Force. During the early 1970s, senior Soviet Air Force leaders concluded that the combat lessons learned from the Arab-Israeli wars should be studied carefully and applied throughout the force. They were also aware that the U.S. Air Force and Navy had created specialized “aggressor” squadrons that imitated Soviet aircraft performance and tactics to train their own pilots in air combat. As a result, the Soviet Air Force decided to create its own “aggressor” unit.
According to Yefim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov in their book Mikoyan MiG-29 & MiG-35, the title did not appear in any official Soviet documents—largely because the Soviet Union publicly presented itself as a peace-loving state. Even so, fighter pilots informally referred to the 1521st Aviation Base as the Soviet Air Force’s “aggressor” unit. Maryy was selected as its base because its favorable year-round weather supported frequent and intensive flight training. Over time, the 1521st AvB became a key training and evaluation center where Soviet Air Force fighter units sharpened their combat skills and demonstrated their readiness to protect the country’s airspace.
The pilots serving in the “aggressor” unit were known for their exceptional flying skills and were formidable opponents in training exercises. The two squadrons of the 1521st Aviation Base were staffed mainly by 1st Class Pilots and Sniper Pilots, which were official Soviet skill classifications, with Sniper Pilots making up around 35 to 40 percent of the personnel. Because they regularly flew two sorties a day, these aviators carried a demanding workload and quickly developed the confidence to face any opponent, no matter how challenging.
Every fighter regiment that came to Maryy-1 Air Base for evaluation was required to complete the following disciplines:
- evaluation of each pilot’s flying ability, including advanced maneuvers and aerobatic performance
- very low-altitude flight training over featureless terrain, such as desert regions with few natural reference points
- air combat training and assessment of the unit’s quick reaction alert readiness
- tactical drills carried out by the full regiment as well as by individual squadrons
- live missile firing and gunnery exercises against remote-controlled target drones maneuvering to simulate specific enemy aircraft under realistic tactical conditions
It is worth noting that if a pilot achieved a perfect result in this category, the aircraft was marked with red “kill” stars. Some aircraft displayed as many as nine such marks beneath the canopy.
A standard “pair versus pair” training engagement worked as follows. Each two-aircraft team—the friendly side and the opposing side—used its own combat control radio frequency. Before takeoff, the lead pilot of each pair coordinated with his command, control, and communications officer to receive updates on the opposing pair’s position at set intervals. These mock dogfights could last up to ten minutes. If a pilot succeeded in getting onto an enemy aircraft’s tail, he would report “Target in sight!” to his C3 officer, activate radar lock-on, and then switch to the opponent’s radio channel to announce, “I see you! You’re under attack!” If the targeted pilot could not break away at once, the engagement was ended, since the outcome was considered a clear simulated kill.
The date for each regiment’s evaluation at the 1521st Aviation Base was assigned individually at the start of the training year. As that date approached, the entire unit concentrated its efforts on preparing for what became known as the “Maryy experience.” Failure was not an option, since the results served as an important measure of the regiment’s training standard and combat readiness, and earning top marks in the course was especially difficult.
Squadron 1 of the 1521st Aviation Base began replacing its MiG-21bis fighters with the MiG-29 (izdeliye 9.13) Fulcrum-C. These new aircraft arrived in the standard factory paint scheme of dark greenish-gray on the upper surfaces and neutral gray underneath. Unlike the earlier MiG-29 (izdeliye 9.12) Fulcrum-A, which did not have a fixed camouflage layout and therefore showed considerable variation from one aircraft to another, the camouflage pattern of the later Fulcrum-C was largely standardized. On the Fulcrum-C, the outer sections of the airframe—including the forward fuselage, outer wings, upper portions of the fins, and stabilator tips—were painted in a darker shade, giving the aircraft a more compact appearance at a distance. The dividing line between colors on the wings followed a strict chordwise path from the inner and outer leading-edge flap junction to the trailing-edge flap and aileron junction. Another visible difference was the black anti-glare panel: on the Fulcrum-A it ended at the front of the windshield, while on the Fulcrum-C it extended all the way to the rear of the windshield.
The aircraft assigned to the aggressor unit were delivered in their standard camouflage without any modifications. This quickly proved problematic during group aerial combat training, as pilots struggled to distinguish allied aircraft from opposing ones — particularly when both sides flew identical models. As often happens in military practice, the solution emerged from the ground up: personnel proposed applying distinctive identification markings to the aggressor planes, an idea that eventually won approval from leadership. The bland color schemes were soon replaced with unique insignia and nose art. Importantly, this wasn’t arbitrary decoration — the process was approached methodically and with purpose.
Several MiG-29s were deliberately styled to resemble the American F-15 Eagle. Yellow wingtip and stabilator markings with black outlines optically distorted the aircraft’s silhouette at distance, giving it the raked appearance characteristic of the F-15. Diagonal black stripes meeting in a black-and-yellow chevron behind the cockpit made the canopy look elongated, further mimicking the Eagle’s profile.
Since the aircraft were intended to portray NATO fighters, nose art was permitted and largely left to the ground crews’ discretion, resulting in each plane having its own personality. The standout example was ’31 Red’, widely considered the most visually striking MiG-29 at Maryy. Beyond its F-15-inspired disguise, it featured a shark mouth, a yellow identification stripe adorned with stars reminiscent of cognac bottle labels, the inscription Aviabaza Maryy behind the cockpit, and tail fins decorated with Squadron 1’s emblem — a winged numeral over a red arrow — alongside a saber-toothed tiger motif.
While ’31 Red’ was intended as a template for the rest of the unit’s aircraft, practical constraints meant the scheme wasn’t uniformly applied. ’21 Red’, for instance, omitted the cognac stripe, and several other fighters — ’23 Red’, ’25 Red’, ’26 Red’, and ’28 Red’ through ’32 Red’ — featured no tiger imagery. ’30 Red’ instead carried a leaping leopard painted on the starboard side beneath the cockpit.
The unit’s second squadron, previously flying MiG-23MLD variable-geometry fighters and originally slated to transition to Su-27s, unexpectedly began receiving large numbers of well-worn early-production Fulcrum-As sourced from across the country. These aircraft were likewise given special markings for identification purposes, and within a few weeks of arrival were systematically recoded in red and decorated with their own artwork.
The most elaborately decorated aircraft displayed a prominent shark mouth and a white triangular marking running rearward along the upper fuselage from the cockpit. This triangle incorporated the base’s emblem on both sides — a shield depicting an eagle splitting an aircraft in half. The outer surfaces of the tail fins bore the squadron’s insignia, a hornet set against a red lightning bolt, with the letters “AM” standing for Aviabaza Maryy displayed above it. However, when the dissolution of the Soviet Union placed the unit under Turkmenian authority, the letters were quietly removed — “am” happens to be a vulgar term in the Turkmen language.
Of the 24 MiG-29s stationed at Maryy-1 AB, a number of single-seat variants from both sub-types, along with one two-seat MiG-29UB trainer, were flown out to Zherdyovka AB in the Tambov Region of Russia in August 1992. In accordance with a Russian government directive, the majority of the MiGs then held at that base were subsequently handed over to the Kazakhstan Air Force toward the end of 1995 and into early 1996.
Mikoyan MiG-29 & MiG-35 is published by Crecy and is available to order here.
Photo by Digital Combat Simulator and TSGT Michael Ammons / U.S. Air Force
