Since its first sighting at the Ramenskoye test range in 1977, when it got unofficially dubbed with the rather tentative and anonymous RAM-L designation, the Fulcrum has been one of the key aircraft on the military aviation scene for 20 years. Originally intended to constitute the backbone of the Soviet Air Force, and hence confront its Western counterparts in a conflict that fortunately never came into being, the Fulcrum-aircraft series represented a major technological breakthrough for the Soviet aerospace industry. Not only did it propel Soviet military fighters into the 4th generation, but it embodied the attainment of the state-of-the-art in aerodynamics and aircraft agility.