MOSCOW, December 7 (AVN) - The MAPO aircraft design and manufacturing company has upgraded two MIG-29 fighters to the MIG-29SMT variant, MAPO top official Yuri Polushkin said on Tuesday.
Besides, the company has created the MIG-29UBT tester and combat two-seater plane which is very similar to the SMT fighter in flight characteristics and armament, Polushkin told the Military News Agency.
However MAPO is planning to supply these planes to the Russian army in small lots only starting from the year 2000, he stressed.
Modernised MIG-29 planes are likely to be in considerable demand in the market, Polushkin went on. The company has built about 1,300 MIG-29s of various modifications which range in accordance with a client's demands and financial possibilities.
MIG-29SMT is a multi-purpose fighter with the flight range of up to 3,500 kilometres and combat effectiveness three times higher than that of previous models. It can be equipped with high-precision weapons with laser- and television-guided air-to-ground warheads, KAB-500 correctable air bombs, RVV-AE (RVV-AF), R-27, KH-29 and KH-35 air-to-air missile and other weapons. The GSH-301 aviation gun mounted on the fighter is the world's best gun in this class, Polushkin said.
According to him, MIG-29SMT and MIG-29UBT fighters have already been tested in the Air Force Flight Test Centre, located in the southern Russian town of Akhtubinsk, and fully matched all expected results.