Armoredd.com

May 13, 2009 20:56 | Updated May 14, 2009 9:32
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Israel Air Force test pilots are flying MIG 29 jets and conducting dogfights against the IAF’s F-16 fighters, Channel 2 revealed Wednesday evening.

The MIG 29, developed by the soviets in the 1970s, is one of the best fighter jets used by eastern and Arab countries, as well as by Syria and Iran. It was developed to counter American-made jets such the F-16 or F/A-18.

The jets were loaned to Israel by an unnamed foreign country. The experiment is meant to prepare IAF pilots for missions where they might have to fight a foreign air-force.

“We tested them - we trained the IAF pilots against them,” an unnamed IAF official said.

The IAF employs ten test pilots. The training of each costs about a million dollars, but the experience gleaned from the test pilots, the unnamed official said, “is priceless.”

“You fly in places and in certain conditions in a way never attempted before,” an unidentified test pilot said. “Once, a piece of the jet’s body broke during an experiment but the crew managed to land it safely.”

A test jet is just like a regular one, except for special sensors which cover literally every aspect of its mechanical and electronic systems and can be monitored from the ground for assessment.

An additional experiment conducted recently by the air force involved loading an F-16 with weapons to its utmost capacity, or “flight in a heavy formation,” as the test pilot labeled it. The experiment was meant to measure the pilot’s safety and the fighter’s capability when it was carrying the maximum amount of armaments.

A jet so armed might be used in a long-distance sortie. The pilots interviewed would not name which foreign countries might be the targets of such sorties, but it was clear the main target of such an ambitious mission would be Iran’s nuclear installations.

Source: The Jerusalem Post

20:17 | 13/ 03/ 2009

MOSCOW, March 13 (RIA Novosti) - Many of the Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter planes grounded after last December’s crash have shown signs of metal corrosion, a military official said on Friday.

Since the MiG-29 crash in East Siberia last December, in which the pilot died, a Defense Ministry commission has inspected around 200 aircraft, clearing more than 100 for further flights, but finding about 90 to be defective.

Lt. Gen. Sergei Bainetov, head of flight security at the Russian Air Force, said that even new aircraft which had clocked no more than 150 flight hours showed signs of metal corrosion in their tail sections.

Experts are looking into the possible causes of the corrosion.

The December crash was the second in East Siberia involving a MiG-29 fighter in less than two months. In mid-October, a MiG-29 crashed 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Domna airfield in the Chita Region during a training flight. The pilot ejected safely.

Last year, two Russian Air Force MiG-29 fighters were involved in a mid-air collision over the Rostov Region. Both pilots ejected safely.

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Related Article:
India worried as Russia grounds MiG-29 fleet

14 Mar 2009, 0500 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit, TNN
The Times of India

NEW DELHI: In a move fraught with major implications for India, Russia has grounded a major chunk of its MiG-29 fleet due to structural defects. The Indian Air Force (IAF) operates over 60 MiG-29s as “all-weather air-superiority fighters”.

Moreover, the Indian Navy is soon to get 16 MiG-29Ks—the fighter’s naval variant designed to operate from an aircraft carrier’s deck—as part of the original $1.5 billion package deal signed with Russia in 2004 for Admiral Gorshkov.

Sources said a navy team recently returned empty-handed from Russia after the delivery of its 16 MiG-29Ks was postponed because of Moscow’s decision to ground its own MiG-29s. Russia apparently grounded its entire fleet of about 300 MiG-29s, codenamed ‘Fulcrum’ by Nato during the Cold War, after a couple of them crashed in southern Siberia in October-December due to the disintegration of their tail fins.

Subsequently, around 90 MiG-29s have so far been found unsafe to fly during ongoing checks, while 100 have been cleared to take to the skies. Incidentally, Algeria had last year returned its 15 MiG-29s to Russia, holding that their quality was poor, which was strongly contested by Moscow.

This does not augur well for India. As earlier reported by TOI, the IAF is already grappling with a huge dip in the number of its fighter squadrons, down to just 32 from the “sanctioned strength” of 39.5. The IAF hopes to reach its “desired strength” of 42 squadrons only by 2020 or so.

Another reason is that even as India haggles with Russia over its additional $2 billion demand for Gorshkov’s refit, the defence ministry has cleared the navy’s proposal to buy 29 additional MiG-29Ks for Rs 5,380 crore.

The procurement has been approved because both Gorshkov and the indigenous aircraft carrier, being built at the Cochin Shipyard, will operate MiG-29Ks once the two desperately needed warships are inducted into service in the next decade.

The immediate concern, however, is for the IAF, which operates three MiG-29 squadrons along the western front for air defence purposes. “We have received no word from Russia. We are continuing to fly our MiG-29s from Halwara and Jamnagar,” a senior officer said.

The IAF had inducted over 70 twin-engined MiG-29s from 1986 onwards but has lost several of them in crashes, though these fighters are not as accident-prone as the single-engined MiG-21s or the recently phased out MiG-23s.

Interestingly, six IAF MiG-29s are currently in Russia for a mid-life upgrade under a huge $964 million contract signed in March 2008. The other 57 fighters will be retrofitted at the IAF base repair depot at Nashik under transfer of technology from Russia. Apart from extending their life from the present 25 years (2,500 flight hours) to 40 years (3,500 hours), the mid-life extension refit is supposed to turn these air-superiority fighters into far more lethal all-weather multi-role jets.

The upgrade, slated for completion by March 2014, will include the advanced multi-functional Zhuk-ME radar and a new weapon control system. “The package will include state-of-the-art avionics and cockpit ergonomics, as also fuel capacity increase,” said an official. “The upgraded MiG-29s will also be capable of beyond-visual-range combat, besides being armed with sophisticated air-to-air missiles, high-accuracy air-to-ground missiles and smart aerial bombs,” he added.

Another Russian debut in India

Maxim Pyadushkin
Russia & CIS Observer

February 2009

The MiG-35 will be the first Russian aircraft equipped with an active electronically-scanned array radar.
India traditionally is an important market for Russian defense products, and the Indian Air Force operates a large number of Soviet/Russian-made aircraft — ranging from obsolete MiG-21 fighters to the most modern Sukhoi Su-30MKIs.

Despite the growing competition from aerospace companies in the US and Europe, Russian manufacturers expect to keep their position as the Indian military’s leading supplier, and are displaying their latest innovations at the Aero India 2009 air show. Russia’s showcase exhibit on the air show’s static line and in the flying display is its MiG-35 fighter prototype. This aircraft made its debut at the Bangalore air show two years ago. Since that time, MiG has continued to work on this aircraft, finishing the design of its major subsystems — including the first Russian active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar, the Zhuk-AE. This active phased-array radar’s first working prototype also will be displayed for the first time at Aero India 2009.

The MiG-35’s presence is explained by Russia’s participation with this aircraft in the Indian Air Force tender for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), which will be India’s major weapons purchase for the coming years. MiG’s rivals in the tender are the Lockheed Martin F-16, Boeing’s F/A-18, the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter’s Typhoon and the Saab Gripen. The Indian side released its RFP in August 2007, with the evaluation flights planned to start in 2010.

The future order — which is estimated at approximately $7-10 billion — can give a significant boost to MiG Corp. as well as to the entire Russian aircraft industry. MiG is currently struggling to recover from the failure to deliver 34 MiG-29SMT/UBT fighters to Algeria in 2007-2008. The cancellation of this contract brought the company’s debts to a record 44.6 billion rubles ($1.4 billion). In a desperate attempt to save the second largest national combat aircraft manufacturer, the Russian government placed Mikhail Pogosyan from Sukhoi as MiG’s new CEO in December. This appointment was backed by an immediate 15 billion rubles in subsidies from the state budget. Another action in support of this manufacturer came in January, when the Russian Air Force finally agreed to buy out 28 ex-Algerian MiG-29SMTs, which will add another 20 billion rubles to the company’s revenues.

While the MiG-35 inherited its airframe from Russia’s well-known MiG-29 fighter, the designers say it is a new aircraft. It will be reportedly much closer to the new MiG-29K 9-41 ship-based fighter version, which was developed for India with a lot of composite components in the airframe and new wing devices. Because of its extra fuel capacity, the MiG-35’s range has been increased by 50%, and it will carry twice the weapons load compared to India’s current MiG-29s.

Additionally, as with the MiG-29K, production MiG-35s are expected to be powered by Klimov RD-33MK engines. They can deliver a maximum thrust of 9 tons, which is 0.7 ton more than the basic RD-33 variant. The MK version has also received a smokeless combustion chamber to eliminate the aircraft’s smoke trail — making it less detectable by the enemy. Offered as an option is the Klimov KLIVT all-dimensional thrust vector control system, which previously was integrated on the MiG-29OVT technology demonstrator.
But the MiG-35’s main innovation is its Zhuk-AE multi-function X-band radar with an active electronically-scanned array, being developed by the Moscow-based Phazotron-NIIR company. In fact, the Zhuk-AE is a further development of Phazotron’s Zhuk slot array radar family used on various MiG-29 fighter versions — making it the first AESA radar of Russian design.

Previously, only one Russian combat aircraft — the MiG-31 interceptor developed in the 1970s — had an electronically-scanned array radar, but that was passive. The Zhuk-AE is being designed especially for its use on the MiG-35 and can track and engage both air and ground targets, turning the MiG-35 into a truly multi-role combat aircraft.
The new radar’s mock-up was first demonstrated with the MiG-35 at Aero India 2007, but for the past two years the designers have conducted intensive testing both on the ground and in the air. At the beginning of December, Phazotron reported on completion of another round of testing, saying that Zhuk-AE “steadily operates in various modes, detecting and tracking air and ground-based targets.” The testing has also confirmed the major technical solutions applied in the radar, as well as the performance capabilities of its subsystems. The company’s report cited MiG test pilot Mikhail Belyaev, who said that “from the very first flights, the radar showed very good results.”

MiG-35 prototypes should start evaluation testing in India in March 2010.
Currently, the radar prototype is operating again on a ground-based test bench — validating the operation of transmit-receive modules made by the Tomsk-based Micran company. Earlier, Phazotron chief designer Yury Guskov explained to the Russia & CIS Observer that the main challenge for designers is to ensure stable performance of the modules, which requires long-term testing.

The Russia & CIS Observer was told by Phazotron representatives that the existing radar prototype to be shown in Bangalore has a smaller antenna array than the one planned for the series production version. Today, it has a diameter of 650 mm, and incorporates only 680 transmit-receive modules instead of the planned 1,064. More space inside the aircraft’s nosecone is needed to place the larger antenna array, he said, adding that more space will be cleared because Phazotron intends to decrease the size of the radar’s amplifier and some other equipment, while MiG designers also promise to decrease the size of the aircraft subsystems in the nosecone.

According to Phazotron’s Yury Guskov, the Zhuk-AE is able to detect an enemy fighter at a distance of about 130-140 km with its current small antenna array. With the increased diameter and higher number of transmit-receive modules, this detection range is expected to grow to 250-280 km.
The Zhuk-AE’s final version is expected to be installed on two MiG-35 prototypes that should go to India for evaluation testing in March 2010.

According to the MMRCA tender requirements, the winner will deliver only four fully-assembled aircraft to the Indian Air Force, while the others are to be manufactured at Indian facilities. India already has an experience of producing Soviet and Russian aircraft under license. It started with the MiG-27 in the 1980s, and now is assembling Su-30KMI fighters at the local facilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. In addition to the aircraft itself, Russian manufacturers say they are ready to transfer the Zhuk-AE’s production technologies to India as well, which should give the MiG-35 an additional advantage over its rivals in the bidding.

But Phazotron hopes to find an application for its AESA radar in Russia as well. Company representatives said it is expected to be installed in a future version of the MiG-29K ship-based fighter to be developed for the Russian Navy. But this prospect seems to be rather distant. The country’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetzov, is currently equipped with Sukhoi Su-33 sea-based fighters, while the Navy doesn’t plan to lay keels for any new carriers until 2015. On the positive side, this means that Russian designers have plenty of time to finish the radar’s development.

21:52 | 11/ 02/ 2009

MOSCOW, February 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government will order a number of MiG-29 KUB Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighters as part of the state support for the ailing MiG aircraft maker, a deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.

“The state will support in every possible way, including financially, this one of Russia’s largest companies. A draft weapons procurement program envisions the purchase of MiG-29 KUB naval fighters for deployment on future aircraft carriers,” Sergei Ivanov told a meeting of aircraft industry officials in Moscow.

The MiG corporation sustained losses of some 11 billion rubles in 2008, with its debt running at 44.8 billion rubles ($1.25 billion).

Apart from the ongoing financial crisis, the MiG corporation has been hit by Algeria’s decision to tear up a $1.28 billion contract to buy 34 MiG-29s, signed in 2006, over the airplanes’ “inferior quality.” The 15 planes delivered were sent back to Russia.

Ivanov said that Russia’s Defense Ministry would pay 25 billion rubles ($690 million) for 24 MiG fighters produced under the Algerian contract.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said earlier on Wednesday he had signed a resolution allocating 15 billion rubles ($417 million) in federal budget funds to the MiG company to increase charter capital through an issue of additional shares.

“These measures will allow us to integrate the MiG corporation into Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) without making the UAC bear the burden of the current MiG debts,” Ivanov said.

The MiG corporation is well-known for its MiG-29 and latest MiG-35 Fulcrum-F fighters.

The MiG-35 is a contender with the Eurofighter Typhoon, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, JAS 39 Gripen and F-16 Falcon in a tender for more than 126 multirole combat aircraft to be procured by the Indian Air Force in the near future.

Published: Feb 02, 2009
Source: RIA Novosti
Air-Attack.com

MOSCOW, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will use an upcoming air show in India to showcase its MiG-35 advanced jet fighter, a contender to win an Indian fighter tender, an official from Russia’s state arms exporter said on Monday.

Aero India-2009, which will be held in the southern city of Bangalore on February 11-15, is one the largest aerospace shows in the Asia-Pacific region, hosting leading manufacturers, vendors and suppliers from 35 countries.

“The MiG will certainly make several demonstration flights after its presentation on the first day of the air show. We would like it to show its best features,” said deputy director of Rosoboronexport Viktor Komardin.

Six major aircraft makers - Lockheed and Boeing from the United States, Russia’s MiG, which is part of the UAC, France’s Dassault, Sweden’s Saab and the EADS consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies - are in contention to win the $10 billion tender for 126 light fighters to be supplied to the Indian Air Force.

Komardin reiterated that the MiG-35 has excellent chances to win the tender because the Russian aircraft has superb performance characteristics and Russia and India share a long-standing partnership in strategic and military-technical cooperation.

“The MiG family is well-known in India. Our Indian partners have production and maintenance facilities ready to produce part for our aircraft,” the official said.

The existing Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation program until 2010, lists up to 200 projects worth about $18 billion.

India is a key buyer of Russian weaponry, with contracts including the delivery of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier with at least 16 MiG-29K Fulcrum-D carrier fighters, the Smerch MLRS, and licensed production of T-90 tanks in India.

Russia signed in March a contract with the Indian Defense Ministry to upgrade around 70 MiG-29 fighters, in service since the 1980s, and agreed to develop a fifth-generation fighter together with India. (MiG-29 K/KUB fighters for India- Image Gallery)

Russia’s MiG-35 Fulcrum-F, an export version of the MiG-29M OVT (Fulcrum F) is a highly maneuverable air superiority fighter, which won high acclaim during the Le Bourget air show in France last year.

The fighter is powered by RD-33 OVT thrust vectoring engines. The RD-33 OVT engines provide superior maneuverability and enhance the fighter’s performance in close air engagements.

Moscow said if MiG-35 wins the tender, Russia is ready to transfer all key technology to India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and provide assistance for the production of the aircraft in the country.

— ends —

14:15 | 13/ 01/ 2009

MOSCOW, January 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Air Force will receive later this year 34 modern MiG-29 SMT and MiG-29 UBT fighter jets that Algeria refused to accept under an earlier contract, a Russian Defense Ministry source said on Tuesday.

Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport had signed a $1.3 bln contract to deliver 29 one-seat MiG-29SMT fighters and six two-seat MiG-29UB fighters to Algeria in March 2006 as part of an $8 billion military cooperation agreement.

However, after receiving 15 MiG fighters, Algeria refused further deliveries in May 2007. It then froze all payments under contracts with Russia in October 2007, requiring that Moscow first take back the 15 MiG-29s due to their “inferior quality.”

The aircraft were eventually returned to Russia last April.

Some Russian media sources reported that Algeria had asked Russia to deliver 14 to 16 Su-30 Flanker fighters in exchange for the MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft it was supposed to receive under the contract.

<---End of Quote--->

Related Article:
Russia to fly 34 MiG-29s that Algeria rejected

Monday, Jan 19, 2009
Your Defence News

The Russian air force will take delivery in 2009 of 34 new Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 SMT and MiG-29 UBT fighter jets (NATO designation Fulcrum) that were rejected by Algeria, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday, citing a Russian Defense Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, as its source.

The issue is an embarrassing one for the Kremlin. Although Russia has enjoyed great success exporting advanced weapons systems, including combat aircraft, around the world over the past few years, its greatest problem has been cost overruns and long-overdue delivery dates owing to bottlenecks in production and shortage of skilled manpower in the Russian military-industrial sector.

Russian Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin last year careered through a huge restructuring of the Russian defense industry with particular emphasis on avoiding bottlenecks, production delays and cost overruns, especially for major export orders. However, the row with Algeria occurred before this reorganization took place, and, in fact, the Algerian MiG-export fiasco helped provoke the reforms.

Originally, the Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport had won a $1.3 billion deal with Algeria in March 2006 for 28 one-seat MiG-29 SMT air superiority jet fighters and for six two-seat MiG-29 UB fighters, defpro.news reported. Huge as it was, the order was only one component of a giant $8 billion arms export and military cooperation agreement.

Source: United Press International

By MARTIN SIEFF
Published: Dec. 23, 2008 at 8:00 AM

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) — Russia has closed a deal to sell $1 billion of used helicopters to Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led NATO alliance for more than half a century.

The Turkish newspaper Vatan claimed Monday that the Ankara government was going to purchase 32 used Mil Mi-28 — Havoc — helicopters for $1 billion, RIA Novosti said.

RIA Novosti cited Vatan as reporting that the Turks turned to the Kremlin after their original plans to buy Cobra and Super Cobra helicopter gunships from the United States fell through.

Military helicopters are an extremely important procurement priority for the Turkish armed forces because of the ongoing threat of renewed hostilities with Kurdish guerrilla forces in the Kurdish-majority southeastern corner of the country. More than a decade of violence there starting in the 1990s cost an estimated 70,000 lives.

The Turks had planned to eventually buy 52 Italian-made Agusta A-129 Mangusta helicopters, to be jointly manufactured with Italy’s AgustaWestland company under an agreement concluded in 2007.

RIA Novosti noted that the Turkish Defense Ministry had yet to announce whether the Vatan report was in fact true. It also described the Mi-28 as “an all-weather day-night attack helicopter manufactured by the Rostvertol plant in southern Russia.”

Russia gives Lebanon 10 MiG-29s as a gift

A senior Russian official announced Dec. 17 that the Kremlin was making a gift to Lebanon of 10 still highly effective MiG-29 — NATO designation Fulcrum — air superiority fighters.

The move will greatly boost the influence of Russia in Lebanon and give some needed strength and credibility to the Lebanese air force.

RIA Novosti, reporting the agreement, said each MiG-29 was worth $30 million new, making the deal theoretically worth up to $300 million — almost one-third of a billion dollars.

The director of Russia’s federal military cooperation service, Mikhail Dmitriyev, announced Wednesday that all the aircraft would be upgraded “to export standards.” He also said that the gift could be followed by new arms agreements between Beirut and Moscow, saying both governments were already in negotiations about such a deal.

“Joint work with our Lebanese colleagues is under way now, dealing with the purchase of Russian armored vehicles, artillery and other military hardware, as well as other types of armaments,” Dmitriyev announced, according to the report.

If those deals go through, Lebanese army personnel will be trained in Russia to operate the new weapons, Dmitriyev added.

The MiG-29 deal was publicly revealed in Moscow Dec. 16 by Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr after he held talks with Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

RIA Novosti said Serdyukov had been given a “shopping list” from the Lebanese armed forces that would be studied by Russian officials.

In effect, Russia would be in the favorable position of rebuilding the Lebanese air force from the ground up. Lebanon currently has almost no effective combat aircraft.

But the deal would also put Russian technicians and possibly servicemen in the front line as a tripwire against any future Israeli military strikes in Lebanon.

Over the past 30 years the Israeli air force has repeatedly carried out wide-ranging airstrikes throughout Southern Lebanon all the way up to Beirut in retaliation for attacks on Israeli civilians carried out first by the Palestine Liberation Organization and later by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the Shiite Party of God.

RIA Novosti said the Lebanese air force currently operates old U.S. Bell UH-1 Iroquois combat helicopters of 1950s vintage and U.S.-built Robinson R44 Raven II civilian helicopters. In 2007 this small force was augmented by nine SA342L Gazelle helicopters from the United Arab Emirates.

Smiling Cubans throng visiting Russian warship

The Russian armed forces are famous for their obsession with secrecy and security, but it was all doors open to visitors and a warm welcome for ordinary Cubans Sunday when the Russian anti-submarine warfare — ASW — destroyer Admiral Chabanenko paid a high-profile courtesy visit to the Cuban capital Havana over the weekend.

There were long lines of curious visitors waiting to come on board the Russian warship Sunday after it docked in Havana Harbor Friday, RIA Novosti reported.

The Admiral Chabanenko had previously navigated the Panama Canal, the first Russian or Soviet warship to do so in 64 years since the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II.

RIA Novosti said the ASW destroyer was accompanied by two supply ships, the Ivan Bubnov and the SB-406. The small flotilla was scheduled to leave Havana Tuesday.

The news agency said there was a festive atmosphere Sunday, with families and other visitors of all agencies mixing with Russian sailors and visiting the ship.

The report said that the Havana visit was the last stop for the Admiral Chabanenko, which with the powerful guided missile battle-cruiser Pyotr Veliky — Peter the Great — has been showing the Russian flag around the Caribbean and Latin America, previously paying visits to Venezuela, Panama and Nicaragua and carrying out joint naval exercises with the Venezuelan navy.

The voyage was the latest in a continuing series of high-profile overseas naval missions launched in 2007 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the current prime minister, and now energetically continued by his successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.

A second Russian Northern Fleet task force launched a mission to Portugal, a NATO member nation, Friday. That squadron is scheduled to traverse the Mediterranean and then carry out naval exercises with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is currently monitoring U.S. and NATO warships signaling their support for the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

05 December 2008
Air Force Technology

Russia’s air force commander grounded all of the country’s MiG-29 fighter jets on Friday after one of the aircraft crashed in eastern Siberia, the defence ministry said.

The pilot died when the jet crashed near the Domna airfield in the Chita region at 06.12 Moscow time (03.12 GMT), the defence ministry said on its website.

“Air Forces Commander Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin ordered the suspension of MiG-29 flights until all the circumstances of the accident have been clarified,” the statement said.

A MiG-29 fighter crashed near the same airfield in October. The pilot ejected before the crash and survived.

The MiG-29, which is codenamed Fulcrum by Nato, is one of Russia’s most advanced military jets. The fourth generation fighter was designed in the Soviet Union for an air superiority role.

By Dmitry Solovyov, Reuters.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 14 Nov 10:29 EST (15:29 GMT)
Defense News

MOSCOW - Russia has sold 12 MiG-29 fighter jets to Sudan, Sudanese Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein said during a visit to Moscow on Nov. 14, Russian news agencies reported.

“Yes, it’s all done. The planes have been bought,” the defense minister was quoted as saying to reporters at a briefing in Moscow, in response to a question about a contract for the purchase of the 12 planes.

“We are very satisfied with our military relations with Russia,” he said.

Russia was accused by human rights group Amnesty International last year of violating a U.N. resolution by supplying arms to Sudan that were then used in the war-torn Darfur region, a charge rejected by Russia’s foreign ministry.

The U.N. Security Council imposed an embargo on sales and deliveries of arms to Darfur in 2004.

Some 300,000 people have died in the civil war in Darfur since 2003 and two million more have fled their homes, according to U.N. figures, although some sources put the toll much higher while Sudan says just 10,000 have died.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir earlier this month declared a ceasefire in Darfur. The main rebel movement in the region, the Justice and Equality Movement, has dismissed Beshir’s call as a propaganda stunt for the West.

DATE: 25/02/08

SOURCE: Flight International

By Vladimir KarnozovFlight Global

Algeria is returning 12 RSK MiG-29SMT single-seat fighters and UBT-model trainers to Russia, after refusing to accept the aircraft amid allegations of poor manufacturing quality.The aircraft are part of a package for 34 MiG-29SMT/UBTs worth $1.3 billion, with an additional $500 million for the modernisation of 36 early-model MiG-29s acquired for $18 million each from Belarus and Ukraine.

These should have been upgraded to the SMT/UBT standard, but following shipment of the first batch last year, the Algerian air force found that some “new” equipment actually dated back to the early 1990s, when the aircraft had been manufactured.

RSK MiG says all avionics and targeting equipment supplied with the aircraft is new, and reflects its current production variants.

Algeria also took delivery of its first three of 28 Sukhoi Su-30MKA two-seat multirole fighters between December 2007 and January, and is now negotiating with Russia’s Rosoboronexport arms agency for a further batch of the aircraft to replace its unwanted MiGs.

Sources say Algeria also wants to use some of the money from the abandoned deal to buy additional Yakovlev Yak-130A trainers, with these to join 16 aircraft ordered with the MiG and Sukhoi fighters as part of a wider arms package worth $8 billion signed with Russia in 2006.