The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-320 ( USAF/DoD designation: Type 18) was a prototype

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

long-range all-weather

interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

of the late 1940s-early 1950s. Only two were made, with no production following.

Design and development

In January 1948, the Soviet Union issued a specification for a long-range, all-weather

Interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

, capable of intercepting hostile aircraft far from the attacker's targets by day and night.Belyakov and Marmain 1994, pp. 154–155.Gunston 1995, pp. 191–192. The specification resulted in designs from several

design bureau OKB () is a transliteration of the Russian initials for "" (), which translates to "Experimental Design Bureau." It could also mean or "Special Design Bureau" in english. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and ...

s, including

Mikoyan-Gurevich Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Begovoy District, Moscow. Mikoyan was the successor to the Soviet Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau (Мик ...

, who proposed the ''Izdeliya R'' ("Article R")Green and Swanborough 1994, p. 392. or I-320,

Lavochkin NPO Lavochkin (, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being the developer and manufacturer of t ...

(the

La-200 The Lavochkin La-200 (a.k.a. Aircraft 200) was a two-seater, swept winged, night fighter, night/all-weather Jet airplane, jet prototype designed as an interceptor aircraft, interceptor and manufactured by the Soviet Union's Lavochkin, Lavochkin ...

) and

Sukhoi The JSC Sukhoi Company (, ) is a Russian aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, that designs both civilian and military aircraft. Sukhoi was founded in the Soviet Union by Pavel Sukhoi ...

(the

Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace t ...

).Gunston 1995, p. 192. The Mikoyan-Gurevich design, was like the other two competing aircraft, a twin-engined swept-wing aircraft, with the fuselage housing the engines in tandem, with one at the bottom of the forward fuselage and the second in the rear fuselage. The engines were fed from an inlet in the nose, which split into three ducts, the first feeding the forward engine and the other two passing around the cockpit to feed the rear engine. The crew of two (aircraft commander and radar operator, who were provided with dual controls) sat on individual

ejector seats In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rocket m ...

in a side-by-side, unpressurised cockpit.Belyakov and Marmain 1994, p. 155. The wings, which were of similar layout to those of the smaller

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful jet fighters to incorporate s ...

day fighter, were swept at an angle of 35 degrees,''Air Enthusiast'' March 1973, p. 140. and were fitted with large

wing fence A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

s.Belyakov and Marmain 1994, p. 157. Air intercept

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

, at first ''Toryii'' and later the much improved ''Korshun'', was fitted in a radome in the upper lip of the air intake. The first prototype, designated R-1, was powered by two thrust

Klimov RD-45 The Klimov VK-1 was the first Soviet jet engine to see significant production. It was developed by and first produced by the GAZ 116 works. Derived from the Rolls-Royce Nene, the engine was also built under licence in China as the Wopen WP-5. ...

Fs, unlicensed copies of the British

Rolls-Royce Nene The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent,"Rolls-Royce Aero Engines" Bill Gunston, Patrick Stephens Limited 1989, , p.111 ...

engine, and was armed with two

Nudelman N-37 The Nudelman N-37 was a 37 mm (1.46 in) aircraft autocannon used by the Soviet Union. It was designed during World War II by V. Ya. Nemenov of Alexander Nudelman, A.E. Nudelman's OKB-16 to replace the earlier Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 and e ...

cannon, positioned on either side of the air intake. It made its maiden flight on 16 April 1949.Belyakov and Marmain 1994, p. 159. A second prototype, R-2, which differed in having more powerful ()

Klimov VK-1 The Klimov VK-1 was the first Soviet jet engine to see significant production. It was developed by and first produced by the GAZ 116 works. Derived from the Rolls-Royce Nene, the engine was also built under licence in China as the Wopen WP-5. ...

engines, a third N-37 cannon and an improved windscreen and canopy followed in November 1949. The R-2 was badly damaged when a cannon shell exploded, and the aircraft was rebuilt, with the wings modified, adding a third fence, flying again as the R-03 on 30 March 1950.Belyakov and Marmain 1994, pp. 161, 163. No production followed, as the specification to which the I-320 was built was superseded by a later requirement that led to the production of the

Yakovlev Yak-25 The Yakovlev Yak-25 (List of NATO reporting names for fighters, NATO designation Flashlight-A/Mandrake) is a swept wing, turbojet-powered interceptor aircraft, interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft built by Yakovlev and used by the Soviet Un ...

. The two prototypes continued in use by the MiG design bureau as testbeds for the development of avionics.

Specifications (I-320 (R-2/3))

Notes

Bibliography

* Belyakov, R.A. and J. Marmain. ''MiG: Fifty Years of Secret Aircraft Design''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife, 1994. . * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York: Smithmark, 1994. . * Gunston, Bill. ''The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995''. London, Osprey, 1995. . * "Plane Facts: The first all-weather MiG". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to ''Air International'' magaz ...

'', March 1973, Vol 4 No 3. p. 40. I-320 1940s Soviet fighter aircraft Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union Twinjets Aircraft first flown in 1949 Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear {{commons category, Mikoyan-Gurevich I-320