RED STAR No 1 SUKHOI S-37 AND MIKOYAN MFI

Conceived in the early 1980s as an answer to the perceived threat posed by the American ATF, the Mikoyan MFI (better known as the 1.42 or 1.44) and the Sukhoi S-37 Berkoot were developed as the Soviet Union's fifth-generation fighters. The collapse of the Soviet Union prevented this and eventually they were destined to be purely technology demonstrators. Both aircraft, the tail-first MFI and the forward-swept wing Berkoot, were a radical departure from previous Soviet fighter design practice, and both bureaux used an approach that was quite different from Western fighter philosophy. This book gives a detailed account of how Russia's two leading "fighter makers" competed for the order, how these enigmatic aircraft were designed, built and flown. Mention is also made of the third contender designed by Yakovlev which never made it to the hardware stage. With eight page foldout, 174 colour photographs and drawings.