SSJ100 launches operations PAK FA two prototypes flying already ...

Andrey FOMIN
Phazotron-NIIR Zhuk-M2E slotted-array
radar and OLS-UEM IRST with the laser,
thermal-imager and TV capabilities from
the NIIPP Precision Instrument Research
Institute (now Precise Instrument System
Scientific and Production Corporation,
NPK SPP). The same radar and IRST fit
the MiG-29K/KUB. The cockpit management
system is based on colour multifunction
liquid-crystal displays. The international
segment of the avionics suite includes
inertial/satellite navigation, communication
and electronic warfare systems being
produced and supplied by companies from
France, India and some other countries.
In addition to the conformal fuel cell
behind the cockpit and the mid-air refuelling
boom on the portside, visual differences
between the MiG-29UPG and
the baseline MiG-29 include the under-
wing chaff/flare dispensers from Bharat
Dynamics and advanced antennae of the
defence aids suite under wing and in the
root of the right fin.
The basic weapons carried by the
MIG-29UPG are the same as those
carried by the MiG-29SMT and
MiG-29K/KUB. Unlike the weapons suite
of production MiG-29s, they also include the
RVV-AE medium-range active radar homing
air-to-air missiles and such precisionguided
air-to-surface weapons, as the Kh-29T
general-purpose TV-homing missile, Kh-31A
active radar homing antiship missile, Kh-31P
contracts and deliveries | programme
The first MiG-29UB UPG upgraded twin-seater fulfilled its maiden flight
at Sokol plant airfield, Nizhny Novgorod, on 19 May 2011
The second MiG-29UPG single-seater first flew
in Zhukovsky on 20 May 2011
passive radar homing antiradation missile,
KAB-500Kr TV-homing bombs, etc.
The MiG-29 has been in IAF’s inventory
since 1987. Overall, 80 aircraft of the type
had been delivered from the later 1980s to
the mid-‘90s, including about 70 MiG-29
singleseaters (version B, or MiG-29B) and
10 MiG-29UB twinseaters. The delivery of
the first batch of 44 fighters commenced in
1987, the second batch of 26 aircraft was
delivered in 1989 and the third one (10
units) in 1994. Three IAF air squadrons
operate the MiG-29 fighters – the 28th and
47th since December 1987 and the 223rd
since November 1989. According to Indian
warbirds.in website, at least 11 IAF MiG-
29s, including a MiG-29UB, had been
lost from 1994 to 2008 (at least four fatal
accidents and seven incidents are known).
According to Flight International, IAF had
operated 69 fighters of the type by early
2011.
Under the contract, the first six IAF
MIG-29s (four singleseaters and two twinseaters)
shall be upgraded and tested in
Russia, where they arrived from India in
2008. The remaining 56 aircraft will be
upgraded in India at the production facilities
of the IAF 11th Repair Base, using knockdown
kits supplied from Russia. Mikhail
Pogosyan, MiG Corp. Director General/
Designer General and UAC President, said
at the Aero India 2011 air show that the
first MiG-29UPG would be returned to the
customer this year following the completion
of the tests.
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take-off june 2011
37
Sergey Lysenko
Sergey Lysenko