MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has signed a contract with the Indian Navy to deliver 16 MiG-29K Fulcrum D fighters, a MiG official said Tuesday.
Addressing an international economic forum on Russia-India strategic cooperation in the 21st century, Mikhail Globenko, head of the company's regional marketing and sales department, said the fighters were equipped with special systems that had been developed and manufactured in India.
"It is important that the deal outlines the idea of setting up a consignment warehouse and a technological service center in India," Globenko said, adding that this move would help provide timely and uninterrupted supplies of spare parts to India.
"We intend to do the same for the planes that we supply to the Indian Air Force," he said.
Globenko also elaborated on the modernization plans for the MiG-29 for the Indian Air Force. Russia has supplied these planes to India since the 1980s, and the 650 planes represent the core of Indian combat aviation.
The program also envisages upgrading the MiG-29s to multipurpose planes.
Globenko said there was good potential for modernizing the MiG-27 Flogger. Upgraded to include a new AL-31F engine, the fighter will soon undergo test flights. The engine increases the fighter's capacity by 22%-27% and considerably improves its takeoff-landing and maneuver capabilities while preserving fuel.
Globenko said cooperation between MiG and India had been established more than 40 years ago and had been continuing smoothly since then.
Globenko said MiG still considered its partnership with India to be strategically important.
