Born in Sanain, Armenia. He completed his basic education and took a job as a machine-tool operator in Rostov before being conscripted into the military. After military service he joined the Zukovsky Air Force Academy, graduating in 1937. He worked with Polikarpov before being named head of a new aircraft design bureau in Moscow in December 1939. Together with Gurevich, Mikoyan designed a series of fighters aircraft. the design bureau had a number of names including In March 1942 the bureau was renamed OKB MiG (Osoboye Konstruktornoye Büro), ANPK MiG (Aviatsionnyy nauchno-proizvodstvennyy kompleks) and OKO MiG. The MiG-1 was not a very good start, the MiG-3 was misused and the MiG-5, 7 and 8 were effectively research prototypes.
Early post-war designs were based on captured German jet fighters and information provided by Britain or the US. The first production model was the stop-gap MiG-9 of 1946. The I-270 prototype of German ideas and British engine became the MiG-15. Despite its mixed origins this had excellent performance and formed the basis for a number of future fighters with over 18,000 MiG-15s manufactured. From 1952 Mikoyan also designed missile systems to particularly suit his aircraft. He continued to produce high performance fighters through the 1950s and 1960s.
He was twice awarded the highest civilian honour, the Hero of Socialist Labour and was a deputy in six Supreme Soviets. His elder brother Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan was a senior Russian politician.