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Some 70% of Russia's MiG-29 Fghters Unable to Fly MIG 29 Fulcrum (Photo: fas.org)
February 6, 2009, Moscow -- At least 200 MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters, or 70% of the total in service with the Russian Air Force, are too old to take to the skies, a Russian business daily said on Friday citing military experts.

In the past, the Russian Air Force rejected radical modernization of MiG-29s, choosing the upgrade of Su-27 Flanker and MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors.

The production of new MiG-29s at an assembly plant near Moscow was stopped a long time ago, and in the 1990s Russia built the aircraft mainly for exports from assembly kits inherited from the Soviet Union, Kommersant said.

Even though Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has promised the Defense Ministry that it will deliver in the near future 34 MiG-29SMTs, rejected by Algeria, to the Russian Air Force, these aircraft will not be able to replace 281 MiG-29 fighters currently in service.

Russia's first fifth-generation fighter will make its maiden flight by the end of this year, but it will take at least five years to finally put it in service with the Air Force. Meanwhile, Russia may not be able to operate about a third of its fighter fleet, the paper said.

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is in charge of arms procurement, said on January 20 that Russia's fifth-generation fighter must be commissioned with the Air Force by 2015. (RIA Novosti) Geogle Adsense