The Hindu : India warned against `tampering with' MiG-27s

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 29, 2002

International

International

India warned against `tampering with' MiG-27s

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW APRIL 28. Russian aircraft manufacturers have cautioned India against upgrading their warplanes with the help of third countries. ``India's current effort to upgrade the MiG-27 fighter jets in cooperation with Israel is wrong strategy,'' Vladimir Barkovsky, First Deputy Head of the MiG corporation, said.

"When people start tampering with an aircraft they did not build this may lead to disastrous consequences.'' Mr. Barkovsky cited the example of Romania, which had contracted Israel to modernise its fleet of 100 MiG-21 planes. The result was disappointing, with Romania losing 14 of the upgraded planes in recent air crashes.

Last week a Romanian Air Force delegation was in Moscow to discuss the situation with MiG manufacturers. He says his company has repeatedly offered to prepare a comprehensive upgrade programme for India's fleet of some 130 MiG-27s, but India eventually opted in favour of an Israeli proposal. ``Ours would be a far more efficient modernisation than what India is now doing jointly with Israel,'' Mr. Barkovsky told The Hindu. The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is currently refitting the IAF's 125 MiG-21 fighters on the basis of a Russian upgrade package using sets of Russia-supplied equipment. The upgrade will turn the vintage third-generation fighter jet into a fourth-generation fighter jet and extend its service life for another 15 years. The upgraded MiG-21-23 is far more superior to the F-7PG China has supplied to Pakistan earlier this year.

``The F-7, built on the basis of an early version of MiG-21, is inferior to India's MiG-21 and is no match at all for the MiG-21-23 in terms of armament and ability to engage air and ground targets,'' Mr. Barkovsky said. Russian experts blame the high rate of MiG-21 crashes in India on a lack of advanced jet trainer with the IAF.

"You can't teach a man to drive a car and expect him to be able to pilot a plane too,'' Mr. Barkovsky remarked. The MiG-AT advanced jet trainer, powered by two French Larzac engines, came close to winning a tender for the supply of 66 AJT planes to the IAF, but due to repeated delays in induction the Russian plane eventually lost to the British Hawk. The MiG corporation still thinks its trainer would be a better choice for India, especially considering its decision to install Larzac engines on the ingenious HJT-36 trainer.

``The single-engine HJT-36 for intermediate pilot training will make a perfect match with the twin-engine MiG-AT for advanced piloting,'' Mr. Barkovsky said. "Such compatibility is not possible in the case of the single-engine Hawk, whose engine cannot be used for HJT-36.''

Development of new jet

The Russian Government has given the green light to the development of a fifth generation fighter jet jointly with India. A government commission for defence industry on Friday declared the Sukhoi aircraft company winner in a tender to develop the new warplane.

The MiG corporation and Yakovlev Design Bureau, which had also bid for the project, will now join forces with Sukhoi in Russia's most ambitious defence project since the break-up of the Soviet Union 10 years ago.

Russia has already offered to pool resources to jointly develop and build the fifth generation fighter jet intended to compete with the Joint Strike Force (JSF) fighter being developed in the United States.

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