Radars for India and other customers

India is perhaps the largest export customer of Russia’s leading radar design house Phazotron-NIIR. General Designer Yuri Guskov told Russia & CIS Observer about the corporation’s on-going Indian contracts and new development programs.

— What programs for India is Phazotron-NIIR currently working on?

— There are two major on-going programs for Indian customers. One of them is to design and deliver MiG-29K/KUB carrier-borne fighters fitted with the FGM-129 variant of our Zhuk-ME radar. These aircraft performed successfully in trial landings on INS Vikramaditya last summer, but so far the Indian Navy is operating them from airfields in the state of Goa. As part of after-sales support for our radars we pay great attention to any criticisms and requests made by the Indian customer.

Deliveries of an additional batch of these fighters have begun to India; four aircraft have been handed over so far. The next two airframes will be used to coach Indian pilots in arrested landings at the NITKA land-based carrier trainer in Yeysk, Russia.

Our other program is to upgrade Indian Air Force MiG-29 fighters with the Zhuk-ME radar. A total of 55 single-seat and eight twin-seat aircraft of this type will be upgraded this way. In the course of the program we work to meet a number of additional requirements set by the project team. These include preferences related to identification of target classes and types, to the radar library, etc.