A Mikoyan MiG-29KR aboard ‘Admiral Kuznetsov.’
MiG photo
The Russian navy embarks its new Mikoyan MiG-29KR fighters aboard its sole aircraft carrier, the aged—and unreliable—Admiral Kuznetsov.
But the rickety Kuznetsov has been in overhaul since 2017. The 58,000-ton, 1980s-vintage flattop may never return to front-line service, effectively stranding her twin-engine, supersonic MiGs.
The navy may have found another use for some of the 22 or so surviving MiG-29KRs out of 24 the fleet acquired starting in 2013: according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, it has deployed them to Crimea. From there, they reportedly hunt Ukrainian navy boats.
The new MiGs, which possess multi-role capability with modern air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, sat out the first 18 months of Russia’s 23-month wider war on Ukraine. Perhaps as long ago as last fall, at least two MiG-29KRs belonging to the 100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment were flying from Saky air base in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The medium-weight MiGs reportedly have flown alongside Russian navy Sukhoi Su-30SM heavy fighters on patrols looking for Ukrainian navy boats plying the western Black Sea.
After scuttling the frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy, the Ukrainian navy no longer has any large armed warships. What it does have is a lot of missiles, airborne and seaborne drones and fast small boats.
Crewed boats transport Ukrainian commandos on raids into Russian-held territory. Robotic boats, packed with explosives, infiltrate ports to strike Russian warships.
Supersonic fighter versus small boat might seem like an unfair fight, but Ukrainian boat crews often pack shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. In August, a Ukrainian crew scored a hit on a Russian Sukhoi fighter, apparently damaging it and forcing it to return to base.
Despite the danger, don’t be shocked to see more MiG-29KRs in the sky over Ukraine. Some of the Russian navy’s MiG-29KRs patrol over the Russian Arctic, but the bulk of the force—more than a dozen jets—might be available for wartime operations.
And it’s not like the MiGs will need to embark on Kuznetsov any time soon. While the Kremlin optimistically projects the carrier could return to the fleet this year, it’s possible the overhaul could extend into 2025.
There even is an outside chance Kuznetsov never rejoins the fleet. The carrier possess very little actual combat power—perhaps too little to justify the risk the crew must accept every time the geriatric vessel sails.
The last time Kuznetsov deployed, off the coast of Syria for strikes on Syrian rebels in 2016, her air wing lost a MiG-29 and an Su-33 to faulty arresting gear. Fleet leaders decided Kuznetsov was unsafe for flight ops ahead of her planned overhaul, and shifted her air wing—including the surviving MiGs—to an air base in Syria.
