The MiG-33 is an upgraded version of the MiG-29. One of the modernisation was adding multifunctionality with more growth of air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities with high-precision weapons. It featured considerable growth of combat range owing to an increase in the internal fuel capability, along with better pilot-to-aircraft interface in the cockpit and introduction of different new-generation equipment.
The MiG-33 features more powerful, upgraded engines and the quadraple-redundant fly-by-wire flight control system. new onboard radar with a reprogrammable signal processor provides not only a larger aerial target detection range, however is can also capable of detection of sea and small-sized ground targets, ground mapping, terrain following and alerting to avoid ground obstacles.
The flight performance and the handling qualities either stay similar as those of the MiG-29 or represent an improvement, this is because of the new engine and the fly-by-wire system. The combat range saw a substantial increase owing to the enlarged fuel capability. For an aerial close-in engagement the combat radius is 1,250 km. The subsonic interception mission range is 1,440 km, and for a ground target attack mission with air-to-surface missiles the comabt radius is 1,190 km.
