Although I do agree that thrust would help the MiG tremendously, especially at higher altitudes, I don’t think it will change the inherent issue with its FM. The main reason it performs so poorly in relation to its competition is the bleed rate due to excessive fuselage & wing drag.
Comparing the wing & fuselage drag of the MiG with 2 larger aircraft (F-15C & Su-27), it comes off worse than both despite being 10-20% smaller in length & wingspan, along with having a wing area about 1/3 to 2/5 smaller.
The first part makes total sense - the second one doesnt tho.
Yes ofc. 7800kgf wouldnt be achieved at all while the Intakes are blocked.
The problem is that the thrust in Warthunder doesnt change at all - which would mean according to gaijin thrust stays same no matter if the intakes are closed or not.
The second phenomena described is completly irrelevant for this discussion tho.
Gaijin doesnt (or barely) models engine stalling or differential intake flow.
Otherwise tons of planes ingame would greatly suffer from lacking thrust, including F16s, SU-27s, F15s and ESPECIALLY F18s and F14s.
the non-comform mixing of airflow of the intakes also only accours during high AOA while the “gills” open.
So this phenomena happening in straight flight is pure absurdity - especially because gaijin already modelled a thrust reduction at high AOAs for the MiG-29s
20% Effeciency loss is just unrealistic. Most planes face 5-7%, upmost being up to the 13% mark.
The MiG-29 would have an intake loss of roughly 22% in level flight at 0km/h - wich is completly off the board and unheardoff in the aviation industry.
22% thrust loss would be reasonable to assume while the Intakes are closed - but since gaijin doesnt model non-linear intake airflow there is no reason for any kind of Thrust reduction because of that - especially not permanent
just to strenghten my point of 22% being WAY to much Channeloss.
(sorry for the wall of text)
Even if we take a rough 13% - Thrustloss you could experience on Starfighters, MiG-21s and M2Ks - you`ll still get a whopping 7200kgf.
for 6800kgf to be remotely true the MiG-29 Intakes would need to be twice as ineffecient as a Starfighter.
TWICE AS INEFFECIENT.
Just let that sink in for a solid minute - one of the shittiest intakes of the 3rd gens is supposed to be twice as good as the MiG-29s simple straight intake design?
