Russia Spent Years Building the MiG 1.44 to Beat the USAF F-22 Raptor — It Flew Once for 18 Minutes in 2000 and Was Mothballed Forever

Summary and Key Points: On February 29, 2000, test pilot Vladimir Gorbunov took the MiG 1.44 up from the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, circled the airfield twice with the landing gear down, and landed 18 minutes later. The flight came a year behind schedule and years after the Soviet Union launched the project to counter the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter, the program that produced the F-22 Raptor. It was the high point of a stealth fighter Russia could no longer afford, and Russian state media now see its canard layout echoed in China’s J-20.

Russia Tried to Build Its Own F-22: Meet the MiG 1.44

One of the Soviet Union’s initial forays into fifth-generation technology was motivated by knowledge of the United States own advanced aerospace projects. Though Soviet Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft were among the leading fourth-generation aircraft, their supremacy was gradually overtaken by newer, more advanced aerospace projects. One of the United States Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter programs, which ultimately yielded the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, is thought to have caused not inconsiderable consternation in the Soviet Union.

Cognizant of near-term aerospace advancements — and threatened by the prospect of being outclassed by the United States — the Soviet defense ministry sought an aircraft that would credibly go head-to-head with some of the most potent fighters in the West, such as the American Teen Series aircraft, while also evading adversary radar undetected.

Ambitious Design

The resultant aircraft, designated the MiG 1.44, combined several ideas that were predominant in Soviet aerospace design in the 1980s and 1990s: large delta wings with forward canards on the fuselage.

These design choices would give the MiG 1.44 a very high degree of agility and, when combined with a relaxed-stability design controlled by a digital fly-by-wire system, make it highly maneuverable.

Unlike extremely “clean” stealth aircraft like the F-22 Raptor, the MiG 1.44 incorporated features that were not necessarily in line with a purely stealth design. Canards, partially exposed engine compressor blades, and the aircraft’s relatively complex geometry all increased radar cross-section, a measure of radar detectability.

It may have been the case that Mikoyan engineers hoped that elements of electronic warfare and extreme maneuverability would partially offset a less-stealthy design.

Still, some measures were taken that would reduce the jet’s stealth signature.

The internal carriage of weapons, as well as composite materials in the airframe, was thought to have been considered.

One-off Experiment

“After numerous false starts, the RSK MiG 1.44 fifth-generation fighter technology demonstrator made its first flight on 29 February. The flight, from the LII Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, near Moscow, lasted 18 minutes,” Flight International, an aviation magazine, wrote around the turn of the century.

“The MiG 1.44 climbed to 3,300ft (1,000m) and twice circled Zhukovsky with the undercarriage down at a speed of 270-325kt (500-600km/h) before landing. The first flight was planned for March 1999.”

The magazine made an important distinction, however, explaining that “while the MiG 1.44 is not considered a prototype for the Russian air force’s next-generation fighter, RSK believes the program is crucial for the development of Russian fighters. Key 1.44 technologies are supercruise, reduced infrared, radar, and visual signatures, and thrust vectoring for control at high angles of attack.”

In the end, the jet would not take to the skies again, though it may have aided the development of other programs, including one of China’s initial forays into stealth: its fifth-generation J-20 jet, an air superiority fighter.

Much of a Muchness?

One Russian source, TASS, a wire service, noted that the J-20 and the MiG 1.44 share certain design elements. “Among the fifth-generation stealth fighters already in service and under development, the Chinese J-20 is the largest. The aircraft is also noticeably distinguished by its unique aerodynamic design, the so-called canard (defined by the presence of a horizontal tail located in front of the main wing).”

“This is exactly the scheme that was used in the development of the Russian prototype of the fifth-generation fighter MiG 1.44, which never took off.”

Though TASS’s statement may come across as rather speculative — and, in any case, difficult to clarify definitively — there is no denying that the two aircraft do have a few traits in common.

This may, admittedly, be thanks to similar design principles shared by all stealth aircraft, rather than a direct influence of one project on the other.

One-off Design

Though the MiG 1.44 held some promise as a research aircraft and could indeed have aided other, future aircraft if the design matured, it was not to be.

Following the rather abrupt collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent budgetary constraints, particularly in defense, precious few rubles were left over for advanced aerospace projects — especially at a time when world peace felt closer than it ever had.

“We all have been waiting for this flight for so long, but it went through as an everyday event. The machine behaved well, but its handling qualities make it clear that it is a fundamentally new aircraft. So all the work lies ahead,” Flight International wrote in 2000, quoting Vladimir Gorbunov, one of Mikoyan’s test pilots.

Had the program not been crimped by a lack of funds, the resulting, more mature aircraft would no doubt have been remarkable.

About the Author: Caleb Larson

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the shifting battle lines in Donbas and writing about the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.