Russia hands over commercial offer of 21 MiG-29 fighter jets to India

Russia has handed over a commercial offer of 21 MiG-29 fighter jets to India, a spokesperson for Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said. The procurement of the twin-jet fighter aircraft was approved by the Indian Defence Ministry last year and a request for the same was confirmed by the Russian Federation in February. In addendum to the aforementioned, India has also requested the acquisition of 12 Sukhoi MK1. 

Addressing media reporters at the MAKS-2021 international Aerospace show, Valeria Reshetnikova said that the Indian Air Force staff received a tender request for the supply of 21 MiG-29 aircraft in 2021. Furthermore, she said that Moscow had complied with the request and had sent a commercial request. She also disclosed that the request was being analyzed by the “customer.”

Currently, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has three squadrons of the MiG-29s. This twin-engine MiG-29 is a single-seat air superiority fighter aircraft. Presently, these superior quality aircrafts are being upgraded so that their life can be extended and they can be considered reliable in playing crucial air defense roles. MiG-29s are flown by the Air Force and the pilots are familiar with it but the ones offered by the Russians are different from the ones in the Indian inventory. The 21 MiG 29s that the IAF is planning to acquire are from Russia, which has offered to sell these planes to help the Air Force to meet its requirement of new fighters. The Air Force has also carried out a study to check if the airframe of the MiG-29s on offer is good enough for it to operate for a long time and they have been found to be in almost new condition.

Request to discontinue older jets

The proposal comes nearly two months after a lawyer urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discontinue the MIG-21 aircraft from the Indian Air Force, citing safety concerns. This, in turn, came after an IAF fighter pilot was killed in MiG-21 aircraft that crashed. Advocate Satyam Singh mentioned the accident of Squadron Leader Abhinav Choudhary in his letter, where he mentioned that he was killed in action when a MiG-21 Bison fighter jet he was flying crashed in Punjab's Moga district on May 21.

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