Russia will complete the delivery of 16 carrier-borne MiG-29K/KUB fighters to the Indian Navy by the end of this year for deployment on the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, a top official of the aircraft manufacturer said Wednesday.
A top official of the Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG said that 11 fighters had already been delivered under the first contract, and the deliveries of jets of the second series will begin from next year.
"From the first contract for 16 jets which included 12 single seater MiG-29K and two double seater trainer-cum -fighter MiG-29KUB, we have already delivered 11 fighters, including 9 single seater and 2 double seater jets to the Indian Navy," CEO of RAC MiG Sergei Korotkov said.
Talking to a group of reporters at the MiG plant here Korotkov said that under the second USD 1.5 billion contract signed in March 2010 for the supply of 29 MiG-29K/KUB naval fighters, the first aircraft was laid on the assembly line on Tuesday in the presence of a senior Indian representative.
He said the deliveries of the jets of the second series will begin from the next year and could be completed by the time of delivery of INS Vikramaditya to the Indian Navy.
Korotkov said he was not discouraged by the loss of his MiG-35 fighter jet in the IAF's global tender for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA).
He said that a new contract for the supply of 24 more naval MiG-29K fighters is expected to be signed soon with India.
"It is quite possible that it could be signed on the sidelines of the 10th International Aerospace Salon (MAKS) scheduled here later this month," Korotkov said, adding "at least we have passed on all necessary papers to the Defence Ministry for approval.
Working on parallel contract with India, RAC MiG has 'deeply modernised' six MiG-29 fighters in service with IAF at its plants in Russia, later the technology for their upgradation will be transferred to India for refurbishing the rest of the IAF's MiG-29 fleet to MiG-29UPG.
In response to a question about the crash of a twin-seater MiG-29KUB naval fighter in Astrakhan region in June, the MiG officials said it was not for the delivery to the Indian Navy.
MiG Chief Korotkov said his corporation is developing a carrier-based fighter for the Russian Navy, on the basis of MiG-29K for India, which will also have French navigation systems, but would be adapted to use longer range Russian air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, export of which is banned.
