Russia ready to increase supplies of carrier-based fighters to India

Should India express its desire to increase the number of carrier-based fighters – the MiG-29K/KUB, RSK MiG is ready to supply them, Sergei Korotkov, CEO of the corporation, told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

“According to the leaders of the Indian Navy, the country’s naval operation plans call for the creation of three squadrons of MiG-29K/KUB – one for each of the two aircraft carriers, plus one for the coastal squadron – to train pilots and crews,” said the news agency’s source.

If the Ministry of Defense of India “makes the logical, in our opinion, decision to increase its fleet of MiG-29K/KUB, our corporation is ready and able to carry out the order,” Mr. Korotkov announced at the Aero India-2015 Exhibition.

Now the corporation is working on the second batch of 29 fighters under a current agreement – which should be fully implement by 2016. The first agreement on the purchase by India of MiG-29K/KUB fighter jets was concluded ​​a few years ago.

“Our cooperation goes beyond the simple delivery of aircraft. Indian companies supply high-tech systems for the MiG-29K/KUB, and our test pilots helped their Indian colleagues develop new projects,” added Mr. Korotkov.

The news agency’s source noted that for 50 years already, RSK MiG has been the “highest priority foreign partner” of India.

“During this time, we traveled the path from direct supplies of technology to creating effective scientific and industrial cooperation – the most important task in ensuring that the Indian Armed Forces always have the latest modern aircraft .We will do everything we can to expand our cooperation,” concluded Mr. Korotkov.

Russia and India are the biggest partners in the field of military-technical cooperation – with more than 70% of the weapons and military equipment used by the Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy being of Russian and Soviet production.

First published in Russian by RIA Novosti.

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