Malaysian MiG-29N were initially refurbished and slightly modified (mainly cockpit chanhes) MiG-29 (9.12B) to accelerate deliveries. The plan was to upgrade them to MiG-29SD (9.12SD) standard from 1997 to 1999.
Due to budget cuts the new N019ME radar and R-77 integration were not included in that upgrade.
Then later in the early 2000s 17 N019ME radars were ordered (11 deliveries confirmed) and fitted to some of the MiG-29Ns, with R-77 integration unconfirmed but unlikely.
The RWR was never upgraded, even the SD standard had SPO-15
That’s mainly just my opinion, since we don’t have direct information if it was included with the N019ME radars. There’s reasons to believe both actually, but neither can be proven.
Reasons to believe it can’t use R-77
There is no mention of R-77 integration being part of later radar upgrade
Multiple secondary sources mention R-77 integration as not implemented
R-77 has been bought by Malaysia for their Su-30MKM, but never used with the MiG–29N
Reasons to believe it can use R-77
N019ME radar can work with R-77
R-77 were advertised for the MiG-29SD standard and part of the initial (cancelled) 1999 radar upgrade
There was attempts like that, with multiple proposals to modernize the MiG-29Ns that would also include mentions of integrating more weapons from the Su-30 but these were never implemented. The closest to unified armament on the MiG-29N was the integration of LAU-7 rails for P5 CTS making it compatible with AIM-9 missiles.
well considering that the official mig-29sd product page does not mention r-77 and also says same weapons capability of the older models… it shouldn’t have r-77
Thats weird I vaguely remember MiG-29SD having upgraded radar, maybe it MiG-29SE, this does have n019ME similar to MiG-29N. Anyhow Gaijin only really care if it can fire it or not, doesnt matter if it has it or does not.
In an era of compression, here’s how I play the Mig29n. It’s one of the fastest plane at sea level, so I’m usually the first to the furball. 6 Fox3 , surprisingly good against those f2 and f18 premiums, I sling with the HMD. Get a couple kills and fly back to base cause afterburner consumes fuel like a hungry mf. I gave up on bvr with this since su30mkk can outshoot me. I find it as fun as my typhoon tbh.
I don’t like playing the fulcrum down at sea level, it drinks so much fuel down there and having to fuel save when running full tank + drop tank is crazy lmao
Found some 2015’ish journal scan telling that ‘Malasian gov’ did not pursue full upgrade to the SD package, so ‘journal’ speculates that their Mig’s are stuck with 9-12(B) mod or whatever they added after, other source with similar “proof” tells that they upgraded 1 Mig29n to SD but then stopped…
Author multiple times mentions ‘Slovak’ airforce in context of ‘NATO’, i think they don’t specify R-77 because they wouldn’t be exporting ‘r77’ to NATO forces?
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I think this is an article about “NATO” / Slovak Mig29SD, but yeah other sources are magazines from that period or other articles
But yeah, at best case i now beleive there was only one Malasian Mig29N fitted into SD package, and SD\SE packages being able to carry R77 as it would be strange to show off them with armaments they aren’t compatible with on airshows
SE and SD are the same standard, an export derivative of the MiG-29S. The only difference is that the SE is a newly built plane on the 9.13 platform while the SD is an upgrade package for older 9.12 aircraft.
Malaysia initially ordered the MiG-29SE, but to accelerate deliveries they instead got unused stocks of 9.12Bs that would be upgraded later to the same standard.
All were upgraded past 9.12B standard, the only upgrade that was cancelled was the planned radar upgrade to N019ME and R-77 integration. For example the new engines and midair refuelling capabilities were added.
We then know that the N019ME radars were still ordered later with 11 confirmed deliveries and photographic proof of these radars on at least three airframes.
I think it’s not too weird. Especially for exports there’s rarely just a fixed product, instead customers get options to choose. For example the refuelling probe was an option for the SD that Malaysia ordered, but it wasn’ a capability at the time. It was only developed fully on customer request.
For R-77 it’s possible this was similar. With Malaysia cancelling the initial order to integrate them it might just not have been fully integrated with any MiG-29SDs.
