Aero India 2023: Russia has reportedly handed over to India an offer to supply an additional batch of deck-based MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighter jets for India’s Vikrant aircraft carrier, Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheev told at the Aero India 2023 show.
The Russian-made MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB multirole fighters are part of an air wing of fighter aircraft aboard India’s indigenous Vikrant aircraft carrier. The air wing of the carrier will eventually operate indigenous naval aircraft based on the Tejas fighter developed by India.
In addition, India plans to buy Western-manufactured deck-based aircraft. New Delhi is now debating between F-18 fighters made by the US-based Boeing Company and Rafale aircraft supplied by the French company Dassault Aviation.
About the MiG-29K: From the MiG-29M, the Mikoyan Design Bureau created the carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft known as the MiG-29K. It is an all-weather aircraft that Mikoyan referred to as being in the fourth or higher generation. The production standard MiG-29K differs from the prototypes in several features, including a multi-function radar, several new cockpit displays, the adoption of HOTAS (hands-on-throttle-and-stick) controls, the integration of air-to-air missiles like the RVV-AE (also known as R-77), as well as missiles for anti-ship and anti-radar operations, and several precision-guided weapons for ground/strike missions.
The Russian Navy favoured the Su-27K (later renamed Su-33) at the time, despite the fact that only two prototypes of the MiG-29K had been constructed.
But Mikoyan persisted in developing the MiG-29K, and the project gained momentum in the late 1990s after the Indian Navy expressed interest in a ship-borne fighter following the acquisition of an ex-Soviet aircraft carrier.
The first MiG-29K was delivered to the Indian Naval Air Arm in 2009, and the Russian Navy also ordered the MiG-29K to replace its Su-33s, which by 2010 were nearing the end of their service lives.
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