India might scrap MiG-29 fighter deal
The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) considers to cancel the MiG-29 fighter deal with Russia. This month, the MoD started reviewing all foreign defence programmes under the 'Buy Global' category which do not include participation of the Indian industrial military complex.
In June 2020, amid the ongoing row with China in eastern Ladakh, the Bharatiya Vayu Sena (IAF, Indian Air Force) pushed a proposal to the government for acquiring 33 new fighter aircraft. The air force had been working on this plan for some time and had fast-tracked the process and the proposals expected to be worth over USD 800 million to be placed before the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its final approval at a high-level meeting late June 2020.
The proposal contained the acquisition of 21 MiG-29s and 12 Su-30MKIs from Russia. India and Russia have been negotiating the purchase of these fighters since 2019.
A top-level air force team visited a Russian facility to check the MiG-29 fighters that Russia offered to India to help the IAF to meet its requirement of new fighters. The air force also carried out a study to check if the MiG-29 airframes were good enough for it to operate for a long time and they were reported to be in almost new condition. Russia handed over a commercial offer to deliver the MiG-29s including UPG standard kits.
Although the MiG-29 is familiar with the IAF pilots, the ones offered by the Russians are different from the ones in the Indian inventory. So a possible acquisition of the aircraft might raise questions with the MoD. Back in 2020, Scramble Magazine assessed this acquisition, if ever realised, would take a long discussion.
The Sukhoi Su-30MKIs are not part of the review as they will be procured from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The IAF has three squadrons operating the MiG-29; 47 Squadron Black Archers and 223 Squadron Tridents at Adampur AFS and 28 Squadron First Supersonics at Jamnagar AFS. The latter unit also operates a detachment et Leh AFS.
Photo by Lysenko Sergey (via Russianplanes.net)