Good job! I meant to wait a bit for your wingmen, but to take off before them and engage first. Exactly as you did. Otherwise the F16 come too close and you can't get the altitude and speed advantage anymore. I guess the mission setup is not ideal.
If you're not within the MAR (minimum abort range), you can theoretically defend any missile. The rocket motor will only last a few seconds and after that it will lose it's energy. By diving down, cranking, turning cold or notching it, you can defeat it. The MIG29 luckily has enormous thrust to outrun the missile. In PVE you will get the launch warning, because the AI single target locks you. But if you're in PVP, you will likely not get the launch warning, because the enemy will fire in TWS mode. The missile warning will then appear when the AIM120 goes pitbull (turns on it's own radar) at close range, which is too late. Therefore it's better to develop a "feeling" (or to know) at which ranges the AIM120 can be fired, is dangerous and then to pre-emptively defend the missile even without a RWR warning. I think missions and PVE campaigns like this are really good to practice those things.