wrote in message
...
Having seen the Mig 29 and Su 35 up close and personal at an airshow in
South Africa, I was sooooooooo impressed by manouvres such as the 'cobra'
and using the engines to hover dead still in the air, then heaping on the
coals to go ballistic. Their reputation is one of awe and everyone seems
to
love them.

However, I've never heard of them being used in anger.

My questions:
- Just how good are they in comparison to other modern fighters?
- Have they ever seen action and how successful/effective were they?

The airframes are excellent aerodynamically.
Some of the fighter subsystems are some what inferior (such as radar),
some superior (short range IR missiles) and some support systems
are virtually nonexistent (AWAC & tankers).

While in a 1v1 close in fight with equal pilots the Russian planes
may be at the advantage; fortunately we've had no need to fight close
in 1v1 unsupported for a long time now.

There have been a few advanced MiGs and Su's in combat but all
& all they've not faired well due to the imbalance of support
and pilot quality.