West Gets First Look at New Soviet Fighter
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KUOPIO, Finland — A squadron of MIG-29s, the Soviet Union’s newest and most advanced jet fighter, performed before a Western audience for the first time Wednesday night at the Finnish air show.
More than 20,000 spectators, including 200 American and other Western aviation experts, watched five blue-and-gray MIG-29s perform rolls and loops at up to 8,000 feet at the international air exhibition at Rissala Airport, a combined civilian and military airfield in this central Finland city.
Western experts, forced to remain 200 yards away from the pride of the Soviet Air Force while it was on the ground, said the twin-engine aircraft’s aerodynamics resembled the U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter. They said the jet has a top speed of 1,550 m.p.h.
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