RSK Developing MiG-29K for Indians, Haggling Over Carrier Price Continues

A contract for the delivery of the Admiral Gorshkov heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser to the Indian Navy will be signed during 2001.

Russian-Indian talks on the most critical issue of the contract-its value-are currently under way. The Russians are to deliver the cruiser itself free of charge, but the Indians are to pay for repair and installation of new equipment and weapon systems. According to military-diplomatic sources in Moscow, Rosoboronexport state corporation expects to receive around $800 million for the upgraded ship whereas India insists on a price of about $500 million to $600 million.

The general package of arrangements on the Admiral Gorshkov also involves a $1.5 billion contract to supply the Indian Navy with single-seat MiG-29K deck-based combat fighters and two-seat MiG-29KUB deck-based combat training fighters.

The number of the MiG-29Ks being purchased by India may total around 50 aircraft, or two air regiments which can be based on the cruiser and at a ground airfield.

Each fully complete fighter with onboard armament mix of air-to-air and air-to-surface high-precision weapons will cost approximately $30 million. Deliveries will be made in batches and are to commence somewhat before the upgrade of the cruiser is completed and the ship is transferred to the Indians.

The cruiser is to be ready to put to sea within two and a half years of the start of the upgrade work, i.e. by late 2002 or early 2003.

Russians plan to provide five export versions of the MiG-29K by late 2002 for flight tests on the cruiser. Two prototype MiG-29Ks are already available, and have been tested on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. Another three test aircraft-two MiG-29Ks and a MiG-29KUB two-seater-are to be built by the end of 2002.

The Moscow Aircraft Production Association (MAPO) has already begun full-scale manufacture of a development batch of MiG-29Ks. These include two MiG-29Ks, one MiG-29KUB, and one MiG-29K static test article.

According to MiG-29K's designer general Nikolai Buntin, RSK MiG Corp.'s resumption of work on the MiG-29K deck-based fighter was connected not only with India's intention to buy the Admiral Gorshkov, together with an air wing comprising the MiGs and Ka-27/28 ASW helicopters, but also with an emerging worldwide trend towards the construction of light, 25,000- to 35,000-ton aircraft carriers.

MiG-29Ks are ideally suited to such ships both in terms of flight performance and service characteristics, he says. In addition, the Russian aircraft offer undisputable cost advantages over Western deck-based aircraft such as the Rafale-M or F/A-18 Hornet.