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M Radzi Desa
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More MiG-29K/KUBs delivered while Vikramaditya kicks off trials
In March, the Sevmash shipyard in
Severodvinsk launched the mooring
trials of the Vikramaditya multirole
aircraft carrier being developed
through overhauling and upgrading
the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft-carrying
cruiser previously in service with the
Russian Navy. “The most difficult and
important tests will be those of the
propulsion plant. The second priority
is to test the radio-electronic systems,
including Indian-made systems, and
the carrier’s aviation component as
well. The final objective of the mooring
tests is to prepare the systems and
equipment to the next phase, the
factory sea trials, during which the
aircraft carrier will put to sea. This
phase is slated for late 2011”, said a
Sevmash spokesperson.
The deal on the delivery of the
Vikramaditya aircraft carrier to the
Indian Navy was clinched in January
2004. It was accompanied by a deal on
development and delivery of 16 MiG-
29K/KUB multirole carrierborne fighters
to make up the carrier air group
(CAG). The 29 options for such fight-
32
ers were firmed up last spring. The
first batch of six production-standard
MiG-29K/KUBs were headed for India
in December 2009 and entered service
with the Indian Navy in February
last year. The next five aircraft were
delivered in May 2011. To date, the
first batch of 16 MiG-29K/KUBs has
been almost complete, but the customer
has requested the delivery of
the remaining aircraft of the batch to
be put on the back burner until some
Myanmar receives new MiG-29 batch
The MiG Corp. has delivered
the first batch of MiG-29 fighters
to the Republic of Myanmar. The
Russian media reported the readiness
of the planes for shipping as
far back as early March. The contract
for 20 MiG-29 fighters for Myanmar
was landed in late 2009. According
to the Burmese press, it provides for
delivery of 10 MiG-29B fighters (the
baseline export variant also known as
type 9-12B), six MiG-29SE (9-13SE, a
version with a slightly increased fuel
load and improved avionics) and four
MiG-29UB two-seat combat trainers
to the tune of $550 million.
Since the MiG Corp. several years
ago has switched to production of a
commonised family of advanced versions
of the fighter (MiG-29K/KUB,
MiG-29M/M2, MiG-35), it used its
backlog of earlier versions of the
MiG-29. The singleseaters were
manufactured by the MiG Corp.’s
production facility in Moscow and
the twinseaters by the Sokol plant in
Nizhny Novgorod.
The MiG-29 is well known in
Myanmar. The country awarded
the MiG Corp. the first contract for
12 aircraft of the type (10 MiG-29B
singleseaters and two MiG-29UB
time closer to the delivery date of the
Vikramaditya, from which they are
being bought to operate.
Under the additional agreement
signed last spring, the upgraded
Vikramaditya is to be delivered in late
2012, and then Indian naval pilots
will be able to start operating their
MiG-29K/KUB fighters off the carrier.
The Russian Defence Ministry
also is looking into acquisition of a
MiG-29K/KUB batch for operation
twinseaters) in 2001 and the delivery
took place in 2002–2003 (see the
photo). Once the new deal has been
fulfilled, Myanmar’s air force will
beef up its fighter fleet considerably:
Flight International has reported
that it had comprised 12 MiG-29s
and 24 obsolete F-7M (the Chinese
upgrade of the clone of the MiG-21,
a second-generation Soviet fighter),
by the beginning of this year. The
latter were delivered to Burma as
far back as the 1980s and are said
to have seen the termination of their
active operation in anticipation of
replacement with more advanced
MiG fighters.
At the same time with fulfilling the
Burmese contract, the MiG Corp. carries
on with a major order from the
Indian Navy for MiG-29K/KUB carrierborne
fighters. In addition, the early
MiG-29M/M2 single- and twinseaters
are in construction under the
2007 contact with Syria, and upgrade
is underway of the first batch of the
Indian Air Force’s 62 MiG-29 fighters
off the Admiral Kuznetsov,
Russia’s only aircraft carrier so far.
Considering that the production
of the Admiral Kuznetsov’s Su-33
fighters had been discontinued a
rather long time ago, the advanced
MiG fighters may well complement
the CAG of the Russian carrier, as
they carry a more sophisticated
avionics suite and a formidable
array of guided weapons of all
classes.
under the MiG-29UPG programme
stipulated by the 2008 contract.
The situation is a bit more complicated
as far as the prospect of the
heavily upgraded MiG-35 fighter (the
two-seat variant is designated as
MiG-35D) is concerned. The Indian
Defence Ministry is known to have
published in late April the short
list of contenders in the tender for
acquisition and licence production
of 126 MMRCA medium multirole
fighters, with the short list comprising
the Eurofighter Typhoon
and Dassault Rafale. Nevertheless,
acquisition of a considerable number
of MiG-35s is stipulated by Russia’s
governmental armament acquisition
programme for the period until 2020.
Belarus has mentioned the feasibility
of buying such planes recently
too. “There are plans for buying
MiG-35 or Su-30 aircraft as well”,
said Sergey Gurulyov, chairman,
State Military Industrial Committee
of Belarus, during a press conference
in Minsk on 4 May.
take-off june 2011 www.take-off.ru
Alexey Mikheyev