MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax-AVN) - The flight tests program has started for the Kopyo-M modernized airborne radar of the Fazotron-NIIR Corporation, the corporation's Deputy Designer General Yury Guskov told Interfax-Military News Agency Friday.
"The MIG-21LL Fishbed flying test-bench with the nose-mounted Kopyo-M modernized radar made three first tests flights in Nizhny Novgorod," he said.
According to him, the developers think the effective detection range for fighter-targets will be 75-80 km in the forward-looking hemisphere and 40 km in the backward looking one.
He also said that there are not many factory tests scheduled. "Under the existing program, only 10-12 test flights will be conducted to conclude the trials," he said.
According to him, only the modernized elements of the radar will be tested, given the Kopyo baseline version passed the whole spectrum of tests earlier.
"The tests of the new modification will finish in the first half of 2005. Based on the success of the MIG-21bis upgrade program that provided for equipping the aircraft with the Kopyo-21I airborne radar, there are plans to offer the Kopyo-M to other operators of the MIG-21 aircraft," he said.
According to him, the countries that may be interested in the offer include Nigeria with its 19 MIG-21 fighters in inventory, and Vietnam whose Air Force operates quite a lot of such aircraft.