It's not big enough for the radar you need.
It is.
It had less than an hour of loiter time and very short strike range, like the F-16, which carried a similarly minuscule amount of internal fuel. The F-15 carried twice as much internal fuel and the F-35 is replacing the F-16 with almost three times the amount of internal fuel. The F-16 is the product of an air force with 800 tankers.
MiG-29A have had short endurance because it have had two engines for ~160 kN (max) and small fuel tanks. The later versions have bigger fuel tanks in the 'spine'.
F-16A have had max thrust of 106 kN, less frontal area, less weight = it will get better mileage.
The RR Olympus had turbojets, not turbofans, and those engines are twice the size of what you would want in a single-engine fighter.
Indeed, turbojets, my mistake.
What are you planning on trying to power in the mid-1970s?
In mid-1970s - nothing, the engine just begun it's development phase.
Says the French who wanted it replaced with twin-engine Rafales by 1995. The only reason it's still floating around is because of the post Cold War budget cuts.
Yes, F-8 was a tricky bird, but not due to the number of engines.
The French and the Eurofighter consortium already had access to single-engine light fighters. Why did they want bigger planes?
Because Americans and Soviets are making them, so 2-engined big fighters must be the best, right?
F-104 was not that a good fighter, most anything that replaces it will be better, be it on 1 engine or 2.
Two engines gives you not only the internal reliability benefits of not having a single point of failure but also increases your weight margins so you can afford to add bigger wings that will consequently give you better low-speed handling.
Wing loading (weight/wing_area) gives you better low-speed handling. Once can opt to go for bigger wing, or to shave weight - I opt for second option. Two engines, big wing, big fuselage etc. is opposite of affording for many air forces.
Looking at list of accidents that MiG-29 racked does not instill the confidence that 2 engines are a saving grace:
link.
