Israeli F-15s vs. Iranian MiG-29s: Which Cold War Era Fighters Would Prevail?

<p >High tensions and intermittent clashes between Iran and Israel have drawn significant attention to the capabilities of both countries’ fleets of fighter aircraft, which are both among the largest in the Middle East at 17 and 14 squadrons respectively. It is notable that both countries rely very heavily on Cold War era fighters, with almost all of Iran’s fighters having been acquired before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, while aside from one and a half squadrons of F-35s, Israel’s entire fleet is formed of older variants of the F-15 and F-16 that are far from state of the art. The F-15 plays a particularly important role in Israeli plans for attacks on Iran due to its range, which makes it the only aircraft <a href=" target="_blank">capable of operating</a> deep into the country’s airspace without relying on aerial refuelling. The F-15 also carries a far larger weapons payload than any other Western fighter, which is vital to Israel’s ability to destroy fortified installations using large quantities of bunker buster bombs. The fighter’s importance fuelled speculation regarding the outcome of potential clashes with Iran’s most modern fighter class the <a href=" target="_blank">MiG-29</a>.</p><p ><img src=" title="Israeli F-15 Shortly Before a Strike on Yemen on July 20, 2024"></p><p >Despite its importance to the Israeli Air Force, the Israeli F-15 fleet is by far the oldest and least capable in the world. The country is the sole operator of the F-15A/B variant from the mid-1970s, deploying 14 of the aircraft alongside 36 of the slightly newer but still largely obsolete F-15C/D. By far its most capable F-15 variant, the F-15I, is fielded in just a single squadron of 25 fighters, although these are still relatively obsolete and date back to the 1990s – with their capabilities far outmatched by F-15s fielded in the fleets of the United States, South Korea, Singapore and other major F-15 operators. The age of the F-15 fleet has significantly lowered availability rates and raised operational costs, while leaving their old mechanically scanned array radars highly vulnerable to jamming. Nevertheless, the fighters have proven useful for <a href=" target="_blank">strikes against territories </a>with limited air defences such as Yemen and Southern Lebanon. </p><p ><img src=" title="F-15 (front) and MiG-29"></p><p >The F-15 was the first fourth generation fighter class to enter service in a Western air force, with its operationalisation in 1975 responded to by the Soviet Union with the accelerated development of the <a href=" target="_blank">MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters</a>. The medium and heavyweight fighters provided the country with a high-low combination, and while the Su-27 when tested in the 1990s was found to be far more capable than the F-15 in air to air combat, the MiG-29 as a much smaller aircraft faced a number of disadvantages against the U.S. Air Force’s top fighter of the time. Although Iran reportedly planned to acquire Su-27s in the 1990s, the disintegration of the Soviet Union led post-Soviet Russia to <a href=" target="_blank">cease arms supplies </a>to the country due to Western pressure. Before the USSR’s disintegration, however, Moscow supplied the country with<a href=" target="_blank"> two squadrons of MiG-29s </a>between them deploying around 35 fighters, with these remaining the most modern foreign sourced fighters in the country’s fleet. </p><p ><img src=" title="Iranian Air Force MiG-29s"></p><p >Although both the F-15 and the MiG-29 are still in production today, neither Israel nor Iran deploys 21st century variants of the aircraft, with both countries relying on ageing models with some modest domestic upgrades. Israel’s F-15 fleet is by far the oldest in the world, while Iran began to receive MiG-29s almost 15 years after Israel received F-15s. Israel continues to operate the F-15 due to its uniquely high range and payload for a Western aircraft, despite its age, while Iran continues to operate the MiG-29 due to its inability primarily for political reasons to replace them with more modern fighters. When comparing the performances of the two, Israeli F-15s boast higher speeds and flight ceilings and carriage of larger more powerful radars, as well as the ability to deploy up to eight air to air missiles. Iranian MiG-29s, although deploying just six missiles, use much more modern missile designs than most Israeli F-15s, and benefit from far higher thrust/weight ratios and manoeuvrability levels particularly at low speeds. The MiG-29 also deploys an infrared search and track system as a secondary sensor – which is a feature no Israeli fighter class has other than its new F-35s. Such systems allow fighters to maintain situational awareness and engage targets without emitting a radar signature, and are particularly valuable for older fighters using mechanically scanned array radar that are highly prone to jamming. </p><p ><img src=" title="Iran MiG-29 Fires R-73 Missile"></p><p >The most significant advantage boasted by either fighter in an air to air engagement remains the MiG-29’s integration of helmet mounted sights and high off boresight capable R-73 air to air missiles, which allows the aircraft to engage targets at extreme angles without pointing the fighter towards the target. This capability was first tested by NATO in the 1990s when East German MiG-29s were obtained, and proved to provide an overwhelming advantages in visual range combat over all Western fighter classes – leading the United States to develop the AIM-9X missile. The AIM-9X entered service in the mid-2000s, and while the latest variants of the missile are far superior to the R-73, none have been integrated onto Israeli F-15s. Although Israeli’s latest indigenous Python 5 short range missile is considered almost as capable as the latest AIM-9X variants, and can be integrated onto F-35 fighters, the missiles are not known to have been deployed by its F-15s which would require equipping the ageing jets with new avionics including helmet mounted sights. With the Israeli F-15 using older missiles required to point their noses at Iranian MiG-29s to fire on them, this provides the pilots flying the Soviet built jets with a major advantage supplementing the MiG-29’s already far superior manoeuvrability. </p><p ><img src=" title="MiG-29 (top) and F-15" ></p><p >An important factor in Israel’s favour in the longer term is that although its F-15s are largely obsolete, the fighters are<a href=" target="_blank"> slated to be replaced </a>by modern derivatives of the <a href=" target="_blank">new F-15EX variant </a>which are overwhelmingly superior in all aspects of their performances. The F-15EX is considered the world’s most capable fourth generation fighter class fielded <a href=" target="_blank">outside China</a>, and would provide a strong edge over anything in Iranian service at any range. Iran, by contrast, does not appear set to replace its MiG-29s for at least the next decade, despite Russia having sold the <a href=" target="_blank">modern MiG-29M variant</a> to Egypt and Algeria. Furthermore, while the F-15 has received considerable funding for its modernisation from the U.S. Air Force, the Russian Defence Ministry has placed a low emphasis on the MiG-29 – meaning that even the latest variants face far less favourable prospects against the F-15EX than Cold War era variants did against the F-15s of their time. Ultimately while Iran’s MiG-29s are likely to pose a serious challenge to Israel’s F-15s, and moreso to its F-16s, in the longer term Iran has shown little interest in acquiring new fighters, ensuring that Israel’s <a href=" target="_blank">next generation of F-15s</a> set to be delivered in the early 2030s will retain a significant edge. </p>