The maker of MiG fighter jets has announced the death of its chief designer Rostislav Belyakov has died.

He was 94.

The company said he died on Friday in Moscow following an unspecified illness.

Belyakov, who succeeded the firm's founder Artyom Mikoyan as chief designer in 1969, led the development of a family of MiG jets which became the backbone of the Soviet and then Russian air force.