MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The volume of orders of the Russian MIG aircraft corporation has risen by eleven times in 2001, MIG Director General and Constructor General Nikolai Nikitin told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
Nikitin said MIG had fulfilled 300 orders of 30 countries for 34,000 types of services, including delivery of spare parts.
The director stressed that successful marketing policy and new orders for producing advanced aircraft have enabled the enterprise to carry on active research and development projects of developing new military and civil aircraft.
All efforts of the corporation were focussed on introducing the MIG-29 Fulcrum fighter into the international market in 2001, Nikitin said. The enterprise has won foreign contracts for aircraft supplies and upgrade; it is now engaged in cooperation with nations that are not rated among Russia's traditional partners. The Consortium's return to the European market was a milestone, too.
Nikitin believes the export potential of MiG-29 various versions is still very high. Development of new MIG-29 prototypes is now under way, too, the MIG-29SMT fighter being the most striking example. The consortium is also engaged in the development of the MIG-29M/M2 aircraft. MIG-29K/KUB deck single and double-seaters have been derived from the fighters of this series, with the latest aircraft of the family being the MIG-29M2 (MIG-29MRCA) that was first displayed at the LIMA-2002 air show in Malaysia.
Low maintenance expenditure, high-precision weapons kit enabling the aircraft to effectively engage both surface and airborne targets as well as its advanced flight and combat characteristics make MiG-29 fighters competitive on the international market.