MAPO is offering a MiG-29 upgrade to the Indian air force to bring its fleet of MiG-29A fighters up to the SMT multirole standard first shown at the Farnborough air show this year. At the same time, the Russian company has begun to make progress on its MiG-21 upgrade for India.
The only current customer for the SMT variant is the Russian air force, which is expected to convert more than 200 MiG-29As to the new standard, which includes a strengthened airframe with a dorsal hump for extra fuel, new avionics, Zhuk radar with air-to-ground modes and capability for laser and TV guided munitions.
The basic MiG-29A has no capability for air-to-ground missions beyond unguided rockets and iron bombs.
MiG offered India the MiG-29M in the 1980s, but India preferred to develop the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft.
The MiG-29M also had increased fuel capacity, fly-by-wire flight control, a more advanced radar and air-to-ground capability.
A proposed shipborne variant has also been offered to India as part of a package that includes the carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
India has been negotiating for the carrier for some time. An announcement on its future may come when Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov visits New Delhi soon for talks on a major co-operation agreement, including arms development and sales.
The chances of an upgrade being undertaken by MAPO will not have been helped by the Russians' slow progress on aMiG-21bis update for India.
The Indian air force is set to receive its first upgraded MiG-21bis fighter from MAPO's Sokol plant in Nizhy Novgorod and begin flight trials in India by July, according to Sokol plantmanager Vasily Pankov.
Kits for the first six aircraft to be upgraded locally by Hindustan Aeronautics are to be dispatched soon, says Pankov. The first upgraded MiG-21bis made its maiden flight in Russia on 6 October and a second aircraft is scheduled to fly in the middle of next month. India plans to upgrade 120 aircraft.
The two test aircraft will each fly about 50h in Russia by the end of the first quarter of next year. The first aircraft is undergoing aerodynamic and system integration tests and the second fighter - fitted with a Phazotron Kopyo lightweight multimode radar - is being used for trials with R-73 and R-77 (active radar) missiles, says Pankov.
MAPO is confident that the delayed programme can be completed by 2001, but local industry officials doubt that HAL can meet the schedule.
Source: Flight International
