MIG-28 Fighter

[wolframbane]

There is an aircraft from the movie Top Gun, used by the enemy pilots that Maverick's F-14 Tomcat squadron engaged. The enemy fighters were the MiG-28. IRL, there is actually no such vehicle as the MiG-28, real Mikoyan Gurevich aircraft have an odd number designation (like MiG-27, Mig-29), but since they needed an enemy fighter for the movie (and they obviously could not use real Russian aircraft), they repainted F-5E Tiger II's in MiG colors and used them.

I was looking for some information with regards to the MiG-28 (despite its existance as a fictional aircraft, I just fell in love with it).

1/ Has it ever been given a name. Most Russian MiGs are given code-names by Americans, usually starting with an 'F' (Fulcrum, Foxhound). What was the name for the MiG-28.

2/ Is the any developmental history to the design?

3/ What is the weapon configuration?

4/ What are its statistics (speed, range, dimensions)? I assume many of it capabilities are similar to the F-5E.

5/ Does anyone have any good images of the aircraft?

[KingNor]

uuuuummm... well since the mig 28 is a F-5, i'd guess that everything it can do, how it looks and how it performs would be just like the f-5.

havn't you even tried google for images? i typed in mig 28 and got tons of black f-5's with red stars on them.

[hellohikaru]

Why ask this ?

The 28 are US Navy Agressor F-5E/F Tiger IIs painted in gloss black.

Has ever got a NATO codename ?All fighters/fighter bombers have codenames assigned with the letter "F"...maybe they should call it Foolish ?

Since its a F-5E it should have the same performance.

[Vostok 7]

Uh yeah, it's just an F-5E dude...

Vostok 7

[the white drew carey]

There is an aircraft from the movie Top Gun, used by the enemy pilots that Maverick's F-14 Tomcat squadron engaged. The enemy fighters were the MiG-28. IRL, there is actually no such vehicle as the MiG-28, real Mikoyan Gurevich aircraft have an odd number designation (like MiG-27, Mig-29), but since they needed an enemy fighter for the movie (and they obviously could not use real Russian aircraft), they repainted F-5E Tiger II's in MiG colors and used them.

I was looking for some information with regards to the MiG-28 (despite its existance as a fictional aircraft, I just fell in love with it).

1/ Has it ever been given a name. Most Russian MiGs are given code-names by Americans, usually starting with an 'F' (Fulcrum, Foxhound). What was the name for the MiG-28.

2/ Is the any developmental history to the design?

3/ What is the weapon configuration?

4/ What are its statistics (speed, range, dimensions)? I assume many of it capabilities are similar to the F-5E.

5/ Does anyone have any good images of the aircraft?

All joking aside... It's Top Gun. Do you really think they gave this Mig 28 that much backstory?

[Knight26]

Top Gun was a POS, the MiG-28 as stated were just F-5E/Fs repainted black with red stars on the tail. That movie is garbage, heck so is Iron Eagle, but at least they used a foreign aircraft as their MiGs, Israeli Kfirs, and even then they just called them Migs, no number. If you want a good 80's navy movie, that is accurate and cool as all get out, rent or buy Final Countdown, that movie is so accurate it is scary, much better then at POS Top Gun.

[Roy Focker]

BTW who were the bad guys in Top Gun? I remember no one ever naming what nation they were from in the movie.

[Southpaw Samurai]

To wolframbane's credit, the MiG-28 'Foolish' (love the name) does appear as more than just the Aggressors and somehow their pretend planes look identical to the actual 'real' 28's that Maverick and co. engage in live action, so it's safe to assume that the MiG-28 isn't exactly like an F-5E. If I remember correctly, they also mention that the 28's are faster than the Tomcats...definitely not F-5s, unless I'm totally off on the Tiger's abilities compared to the 'cats.

But, as TWDC says, it's highly doubtful that the creators of Top Gun put anymore effort into the history/backstory/design of the MiG-28 short of saying 'So, what's a MiG number not in use yet? 27? No? How about 28?'. There's a very evident level of dedication in the movie and it's barely a cursory one. That said, there may be a fan site out there with some info, but given that it wasn't even modified from an F-5 aside from paint, there's probably little interest. That would, of course, could make you a pioneer in coming up with whatever you want. You could become the sole expert on the MiG-28 and have a page that any kid who ever looks up a MiG-28 for info after watching Top Gun could find first and perhaps even be lead to believe it actually exists.

I'd say a quick backstory is that it was based on stolen plans (maybe a prototype model?) for the F-5 which only really provided airframe design and only hinted at interior pieces and performance. The Soviets were lead to believe it was to be a super fighter (similar to NATO and the MiG-25) and hence tried to create a similar model using an almost identical body (stereotypical...perfect for Top Gun). Their final result was an aircraft that in many ways was superior to the Tiger, but hardly as cost effective. Just how a MiG got an even numbered designation that most likely was already a duplicate in the Su-28 may be an entire novel in and of itself.

I'd say stop giving wolframbane crap over this. The only difference about wondering over the details of a fictional aircraft in Top Gun and ones from Macross or some other sci-fi is the amount of effort put into the said aircraft by the original creators (in the case of the Top Gun makers, is at a level slightly less than the manufacturing plants for Toynami).

[the white drew carey]

Surprisingly, someone has created a back story to the Mig 28:

Hmmm...

[Coota0]

Top Gun was a POS, the MiG-28 as stated were just F-5E/Fs repainted black with red stars on the tail. That movie is garbage, heck so is Iron Eagle, but at least they used a foreign aircraft as their MiGs, Israeli Kfirs, and even then they just called them Migs, no number. If you want a good 80's navy movie, that is accurate and cool as all get out, rent or buy Final Countdown, that movie is so accurate it is scary, much better then at POS Top Gun.

They used F-4s in the second one. TopGun has it's great points...Like the flying, real pilots in real jets, the photography of those scenes is incredible.

[Knight26]

Top Gun was a POS, the MiG-28 as stated were just F-5E/Fs repainted black with red stars on the tail.  That movie is garbage, heck so is Iron Eagle, but at least they used a foreign aircraft as their MiGs, Israeli Kfirs, and even then they just called them Migs, no number.  If you want a good 80's navy movie, that is accurate and cool as all get out, rent or buy Final Countdown, that movie is so accurate it is scary, much better then at POS Top Gun.

They used F-4s in the second one. TopGun has it's great points...Like the flying, real pilots in real jets, the photography of those scenes is incredible.

Final Countdown is still a far superior movie.

[mechaninac]

I love Final Countdown, and even though comparing it to Top Gun in regards to flight operations, and overall Navy "life" is entirely appropriate, the two movies can't realy be compared in terms of story since Top Gun is a chronicle of Miramar's flight school, albeit an incredibly innacurate one, and Final Countdown is, once the Navy trappings are stripped, a time travel sci-fi flic...one of the best ones ever made BTW.

[wolframbane]

Thank you for the vote of confidence there Southpaw Samurai. I have recently seen Top gun (again!!!) and a friend told me that the Mig-28 was not even a 'real' Mig. I think I may take your advice and start compiling more info about the MiG-28, I would love to compile a comprehensive database upon it.

[wolframbane]

The original F-5E Tiger II has these following weapon systems:

2x 20-mm M39A2 cannon

2x AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles at wingtips

5x hardpoints/pylons which can carry up to 7000 pounds of ordnance or fuel

Imagine if the MiG-28 were developed, which a Soviet backing rather than an American, what weapon systems would one suppose may replace these ones?

[KingNor]

Thank you for the vote of confidence there Southpaw Samurai. I have recently seen Top gun (again!!!) and a friend told me that the Mig-28 was not even a 'real' Mig. I think I may take your advice and start compiling more info about the MiG-28, I would love to compile a comprehensive database upon it.

you're confusing me

the mig28 isn't a real plane, it's a fake plane used as the sort of "nameless" badguy in top gun. the focus on top gun was more mavricks internal issues rather than the war with "penland" or who ever.

there is no "real" info on the mig28 because it's not real. its a paintjob for a movie.

the plane in the movie isn't a "real" mig because it isn't a mig at all, its not even a fake mig or "technically" a mig, its a painted f5.... maybe you understand this but i'm not sure.

i feel the need, the need for speed.

[Coota0]

They used the paintjob on F-5's at Miramar in the 1980's to simulate MiGs. The F-5 simulated MiGs, and it was painted up to look more foreign. There is no MiG-28, the flying scenes were filmed from dogfights between Topgun instructors and students. At the time they were using A-4s and F-5s to simulate MiGs, so they producers used the fights bewteen the F-5's (MiG-28s) for the scenes against the "bad guys" and the shot's of the fights with the A-4s for the fights with the instructors. Hope that clears it up for you a bit.

[hellohikaru]

First of all i never liked the Top Gun movie because it was complete BS hollywood potrayal of the Real Top Gun. There is no Topgun trophy and its not meant to be competitive. As you you see is Tom Cruise bravado and nothing more.

Anyway i think the Soviets are not likely to attempt to copy the F-5E(or any US type directly) in the first place. The Iranians otoh did reverse enginner the F-5E and produce a twin tail version called Sharfagh(spl?).

But Suppose the Soviets did make their own F-5Es they would have acquired them from the Vietnamese Air Force. They did in fact acquire some US planes like A-37, CH-47, F-5A and of course the F-5E.

As for weapon systems I think they would have given the *MiG-28* a jaybird radar and GSH-23L guns. Expect AA-2 Atolls and AA-8 Aphids as the main missiles.

[unsped]

If you want a good 80's navy movie, that is accurate and cool as all get out, rent or buy Final Countdown, that movie is so accurate it is scary, much better then at POS Top Gun.

aside from the time travel portion right

Edited September 6, 2004 by unsped

[Coota0]

Anyway i think the Soviets are not likely to attempt to copy the F-5E(or any US type directly) in the first place. The Iranians otoh did reverse enginner the F-5E and produce a twin tail version called Sharfagh(spl?).

They did it with the B-29

[ewilen]

There are no F-4's in Final Countdown. The movie stars the F-14. I don't know if there are any movies where the F-4 figures prominently other than The Great Santini, and even there it's far from central to the action.

I agree that The Final Coundown is much better fare for plane geeks (especially Naval ops geeks) than Top Gun, although Top Gun does have some spectacular cinematography. As for the story...Top Gun is probably a better story for mass audiences (i.e., cheesy romance and watching the hero go through highs and lows), while The Final Coundown is somewhere between very good and excellent as a sci-fi/time travel movie before the final copout of an ending. (At the risk of posting a spoiler, let's just say that whoever scripted the Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever" had more guts.) In the Final Coundown DVD bonus material, I enjoyed watching the Navy pilots who worked on it rag on the sillier elements of Top Gun.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

topgun is a great movie if you think of it as jsut that, a great movie, not some super realistic documentary. A jethead like me can enjoy it but thats IMHO. and once again NO there is no Mig-28 in reality. The producers probably chose the name because there is no Mig 28 in existence. Just a Mig 27 and a mig 29. Almost all Migs have had odd numbers in numerical designations. The exception being the Mig 1.44.

[Knight26]

topgun is a great movie if you think of it as jsut that, a great movie, not some super realistic documentary. A jethead like me can enjoy it but thats IMHO. and once again NO there is no Mig-28 in reality. The producers probably chose the name because there is no Mig 28 in existence. Just a Mig 27 and a mig 29. Almost all Migs have had odd numbers in numerical designations. The exception being the Mig 1.44.

Common misconception you have there. The odd numbered designations are strictly NATO codes, they are not the identifiers used by the russians, same with the names. Somewhere along the lines NATO decided that all aircraft produced Mikoyan Gurevich would have odd numbered designations in their reports and documents. The 1.42/1.44 is an internal MiG-Mapo designation, and since the fall of the Warsaw pact, NATO has been more willing to adopt the actual russian designations. This however caused a problem with the S-37 from Sukhoi, and because they had already given the Sukhoi T10M-11 the code designation Su-37, so they had to call the S-37 the Su-47 to keep it from getting confused.

The same goes for the code names for aircraft, as now NATO is more willing to adopt the russian names of their aircraft, or at least their translations. The name designation is pretty easy to figure out and depends on the first letter of the name:

F = Fighter (Flanker, Fulcrum, Frogfoot, happy person, Fargo, Fishbed, etc...)

C = Cargo (Condor, Colt, etc...)

B = Bomber (Bear, Bison, Blackjack, etc...)

H = Helicopter (Hind, Hokum, Hip, etc...)

[Coota0]

There are no F-4's in Final Countdown. The movie stars the F-14. I don't know if there are any movies where the F-4 figures prominently other than The Great Santini, and even there it's far from central to the action.

Who said the F-4 was in the Final Countdown? The F-4 is used as a MiG in the second Iron Eagle movie.

[renegadeleader1]

movie agressor fighters

Top Gun- F-5E Tigers/freedom fighters

Iron Eagle- Israeli Cfir Lion cub fighters (american des is F-21 I think)

Iron Eagle II- F-4 phantom II's and the Cfir again

Iron Eagle III aces- F-80 shooting stars and the Hienkel

Iron eagle IV- stock footage from all movies listed so far and F-16s

Final Countdown- T-6 texan trainers (as A6m2 zero's)

Flight of the Intruder- an actual Mig 15 (model kit)

on a side note what was the hienkel in Iron eagle III

[ewilen]

There are no F-4's in Final Countdown. The movie stars the F-14. I don't know if there are any movies where the F-4 figures prominently other than The Great Santini, and even there it's far from central to the action.

Who said the F-4 was in the Final Countdown? The F-4 is used as a MiG in the second Iron Eagle movie.

My apologies. I was confused by your post.

I've never seen Iron Eagle II (or I or III...etc.). Is it any good either as a movie or as airplane porn?

[David Hingtgen]

Not really, IMHO. But there's worse airplane movies out there.

[Coota0]

I'd say Iron Eagle two is slightly worse than the original but nowhere near as bad as the other Iron Eagle movies. Has that hot chick in it from "The Spy who Loved Me"

[Knight26]

movie agressor fighters

Top Gun- F-5E Tigers/freedom fighters

Iron Eagle- Israeli Cfir Lion cub fighters (american des is F-21 I think)

Iron Eagle II- F-4 phantom II's and the Cfir again

Iron Eagle III aces- F-80 shooting stars and the Hienkel

Iron eagle IV- stock footage from all movies listed so far and F-16s

Final Countdown- T-6 texan trainers (as A6m2 zero's)

Flight of the Intruder- an actual Mig 15 (model kit)

on a side note what was the hienkel in Iron eagle III

That "Heinkel" was a Burt Rutan design, the Ares. It was for an army project in the mid to late 80s and then the early 90s for the Air Force. Scaled Composites currently uses it as a testbed, it's suppossed to be a pretty nice plane to fly. Check www.scaled.com for more info, look under projects.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Hotshots with Charlie Sheen in it. They had some hilarious fighter designs.

[hellohikaru]

Hotshots is supposed to make find of Topgun.

Love the sweet ol' Folland Gnat

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

teh ARES kicks ass something tells me it can outmanuever the scooter(A-4)

[renegadeleader1]

That "Heinkel" was a Burt Rutan design, the Ares. It was for an army project in the mid to late 80s and then the early 90s for the Air Force. Scaled Composites currently uses it as a testbed, it's suppossed to be a pretty nice plane to fly. Check www.scaled.com for more info, look under projects.

I was looking at that bio for the plane it says it was a ME-263. Wasn't the 263 the real stuby plane that was the improvement over the 163 because it had landing gear?

[hellohikaru]

This one is a real reverse enginnered F-5 by the Iranians called Azarakhsh.

Wonder how useful is the 2nd tail ?

[renegadeleader1]

This one is a real reverse enginnered F-5 by the Iranians called Azarakhsh.

Wonder how useful is the 2nd tail ?

DEAR GOD A 3RD WORLD F/A-18!