MIG MAPO will unveil a two-seat MiG-29UBT multirole fighter at the Farnborough air show in September, says Mikoyan general director Mikhail Korzhuyev in Russian newspaper Nezavisimoye Voyennoe Obozreniye.
The aircraft is a derivative of the MiG-29UB two-seat conversion trainer. Unlike the UB, it will have a fully combat-capable weapon control system centred around two radars of centrimetric and millimetric frequency, says Korzhuyev, who does not specify where the radars would be located.
The new aircraft will have a 1,600litre (420USgal), dorsal fuel tank like the MiG-29SMT, giving a significant increase in range over the baseline MiG-29UB.
It will be capable of using the full arsenal of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, including R-77 active radar guided air-to-air missiles, the television-guided KAB-500KR glide bomb and Kh-29T missile and the Kh-31P anti-radar and Kh-31A anti-ship missiles.
The front cockpit will have the same colour liquid-crystal display layout as that of the MiG-29SMT, while the rear cockpit will be designed for a weapons systems operator/navigator. The new aircraft is aimed at the export market.
MIG MAPO will update about five single-seat MiG-29s to SMT standard this year, Korzhuyev says, but there is little prospect of the long-awaited first flight of its Article 1.42 MFI fighter. "There is no money for flight testing," Korzhuyev says.
Source: Flight International
