MIG-29 Extension of life -
Indian Air Force
‘The
upgrade will allow the IAF to extend the life of the MiG-29
from 25 years (and 2,500 hours) to 40 years (3,500
hours). The Air Force had first proposed the upgrade after the
Pakistan Air Force added beyond-visual-range missiles and other
advanced weaponry in 2003, something that the IAF’s MiG-29s
presently do not carry.’
‘MiG-29 carrier-based fighter jets delivered to
India’
Navy
News — By RIA
Novosti on December 9, 2009 at 6:28 am
Russia's MiG aircraft maker said on Tuesday it has delivered the
first four MiG-29 Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighter jets to
India.
Russia and India signed a contract on January 20, 2004,
stipulating the supply of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four two-seat
MiG-29KUBs to India as part of a $1.5 billion deal to deliver the
Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, currently
being retrofitted in
Russia for the Indian
navy.
Indian media earlier reported that two MiG-29K and two MiG-29KUB
fighters arrived from Russia in a knocked down condition on
December 4.
Deliveries of the remaining aircraft will be carried out in line
with a schedule agreed by MiG and the Indian Navy.
The contract for the jets also stipulates the procurement of
hardware for pilot training and aircraft maintenance, including
flight
simulators and interactive ground and
sea-based training systems.
India and Russia are also reportedly close to reaching an
agreement to break the deadlock on additional financing for the
retrofit of the Admiral Gorshkov, which caused "a distinct chill in
expansive Indo-Russian defense ties."
"India is likely to shell out around $2.5 billion and get the
carrier by early 2013,'' Times of India quoted a source in
the
Indian military as saying.
The Indian Navy has named its MiG-29K squadron the "Black
Panthers." The fighters will be based at an airfield in the state
of Goa on India's west coast until the Admiral Gorshkov joins the
Navy under the name of INS Vikramaditya
