Russian planemaker MiG hopes to win Indian fighter tender

20:46|22/ 01/ 2007

BANGALORE (India), January 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russian aircraft
manufacturer MiG hopes to win a tender to supply fighters for the
Indian Air Force, the company’s general director said Monday.

India earlier announced a tender for the acquisition of 126 light
fighters for its Air Force worth about $4 billion.

"We are ready to supply more than a hundred MiG-35 fighters to India,"
said Alexei Fedorov, who is visiting India as part of the Russian
delegation led by
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Fedorov said it was impossible to give an accurate estimate of the
tender’s actual value because most of the aircraft under the future
contract would be license-manufactured in India.

Russia’s MiG-35 will compete with U.S., Swedish and French jet fighters
in the Indian tender.

"It is hard to estimate our chances to win the tender because the
competition is very strong," Fedorov said, adding that the MiG-35
features a number of competitive upgrades, including improved avionics,
advanced weaponry and a new pulse Doppler radar.

The MiG-35, an export version of the MiG-29M OVT (Fulcrum F), is a
highly maneuverable air superiority fighter, which was shown for the
first time in Au gust 2005 during the MAKS Air Show outside Moscow.

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

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