On two separate days in the last week Soviet fighter aircraft violated Ukrainian airspace. This has prompted a quick response from NATO. As a result NATO will be conducting military exercises in the Baltics. In the late 1960s, the US Air Force began work on the development of a next-generation fighter under the "Fighter Experimental (FX)" program. In 1969, McDonnell Douglas won the FX competition with what would become the "F-15 Eagle." The Soviet Union followed the FX program with great interest. Obviously, if the West had improved fighters, the VVS (Voyenno Vozdushniye Sily / Red Air Force) USSR had to have comparable fighters to counter them, and that same year, 1969, the Soviet government issued a requirement for an "anti-F-15" heavy fighter, under the designation "Prospective Frontal Fighter (Perspektivnyi Frontovoi Istrebitel / PFI)". THw MiG 29 Fulcrum is the result of the PFF project. The Mikoyan MiG-29 "Fulcrum" was one of the Soviet Union's most important combat aircraft in the last years of the Cold War, and remains an important military asset for the successor Russian Republic. It has been widely exported, and is now being updated with improved systems to keep it in service well into the 21st century. The MiG 29 shares several features with the F 15 Eagle, including appearance and basic structure. CRISIS IN THE UKRAINE Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia has wanted to rebuild and unite the USSR. However the stunts he's pulling in the Ukraine since Feb 28, 2014 are likely to cost him big time! When you are a small country, next to Russia and you don't join NATO that is giving Putin an invitation to invade and take over. Ukrainian Pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was a major factor in contributing to the crisis in the Ukraine. He has been ousted after he caused a lot of damage. That is a major part of the Crisis in the Ukraine.