Russia To Deliver Fighter Jets MIG29, Sukhoi Su-30MKIs To India Soon
NEW DELHI:Russia is ready to deliver fighter jets Sukhoi Su-30 MKI and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 to India in the shortest time possible. The new fighter jets will be bought in a government-to-government deal with Russia with the approximate cost estimated to be Rs 6,000 crore amidst the India-China border tension. Sources say that Russia is prepared to assess the issue of early delivery and it is all known knowledge that Russia is already assisting the IAF in the MiG-29 modernisation programme. In 1985, IAF received its first MiG-29 and the modernisation will help to increase the fighting capabilities of the MiG-29 fighters to a level comparable to the 4th Generation jets.
Post modernisation MiG-29 will enable Russian and foreign weapons to be integrated, including tracking aerial targets at a wide range of flight speeds and altitudes, tracking heat-contrasting air objects and carrying out hidden (without using radar) attacks on them. Sophisticated corrosion protection materials and technologies will increase the service life of MiG-29 fighters.
Indian Air Force chief Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhaduria at his annual press conference ahead of Indian Air Force day on 8 October announced that the Indian Air Force had planned to purchase the additional aircraft but now the proposal will be quickly tracked.
The proposal to buy fighter jets comes at a time when India and China are engaged in a violent faceoff in the Galwan valley, which started after Chinese troops intruded into Indian territory and objected to the construction of road by India near the Line of Actual Control, claiming that it lay within Chinese territory.
