MOSCOW. Dec 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian MIG Corporation is going to bid for the Indian lightweight fighter contract with its MIG-29MRCA.
MIG's Director General Alexei Fedorov told Interfax-Military News Agency that it would not be a piece of cake to win in the contest, in which best foreign aircraft builders will also participate. "However, when we came to the Indian tender with the SU-30MKI back in 1995, it was not easier. Nevertheless, we won," he said.
Fedorov added that the expertise of Russian-Indian cooperation under the contracts on the SU-30MKI combat aircraft, the MIG-29K Fulcrum and MIG-29KUB shipborne fighters, as well as on the MIG-21bis modernization, will most likely be taken into account by Indian specialists when announcing the winning bidder.
According to preliminary estimates, India is going to procure 126 lightweight fighters.
The MIG-29MRCA was developed in record-breaking time of only 11 months. Compared with the baseline MIG-29 Fulcrum configuration, the new aircraft has a number of advantages, including the increased fuel load, a fly-by-wire system, the new Zhuk-ME airborne radar with 120-km detection range against aerial targets, and a wider weapon suite featuring air-to-surface guided missiles.
The propulsion system of the MIG-29MRCA is made up by two RD-33 engines of the 3M series.