PARIS. June 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian MIG Aircraft Building Corporation has developed and is going to introduce a system of after-sale support measures to significantly improve maintenance of Mikoyan MiG-29 aircraft in service with air forces of Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and some other European countries.
"The set of measures we are offering will significantly extend the service lives of the aircraft, as well as will make their repair and maintenance cheaper, easier and timely," Vladimir Barkovsky, MIG Deputy Director General and Deputy Designer General, told a news conference at Paris Air Show 2005 Tuesday.
He said that these measures will include service life extension, introduction of on-condition maintenance, single information and management system of the customer and the vendor, and building of spare parts storages and service centers at customers' territories.
"These measures will be taken either separately or in combination," he said.
Vladimir Vypryazhkin, MIG Deputy Director General and Deputy Designer General, told the news conference that the corporation will take more active steps to upgrade its system of providing maintenance to fighters in service with air forces of Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and other European countries.
He noted that the customers in Europe are mostly interested in service life extension and on-condition maintenance.
Barkovsky added that service life extension will be ensured with the use of more advanced diagnostics, fine-tuning and reinforcement of some elements of the airframe, as well as owing to the replacement of some elements and units.
"In the course of fine-tuning the number of elements with limited service lives will be reduced 3.5 times," he said.
According to him, the service life of the new family MiG-29 fighters (MiG-29K/KUB and MiG-29M aircraft) will be 6,000 flight hours. The first aircraft with such service lives will turn operational in aviation units of the Indian Navy in 2007 within the framework of the contract on the delivery of MiG-29K signed in January 2004.