The navalised MiG-29 fighters acquired by Indian Navy to arm its aircraft carriers has serious operational shortfalls, according to a audit...
The navalised MiG-29 fighters acquired by Indian Navy to arm its aircraft carriers has serious operational shortfalls, according to a audit report tabled by India's Comptroller and Auditior General (CAG) in the Parliament.
The carrier borne multi role air superiority fighter is riddled with problems in its airframe, RD-33 MK engines and fly by wire systems, the report says.
CAG slammed the Indian Navy for accepting the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighters being acquired from 2009 in a $ 2.2 billion deal. According to the first deal, 16 fighters were acquired to arm the INS Vikramaditya (ex-Admiral Gorshkov) carrier, while an option clause contract for 29 additional aircraft was signed in March 2010 in which 13 would arm the indigenous INS Vikrant carrier.
The fleet demonstrated poor serviceability, ranging from 15.93 to 37.63 percent by the MiG-29K, while 21.3 to 47.14 percent for the twin seat MiG-29KUB trainers.
Even though advanced and improved than its predecessor, the RD-33MK engine still had reliability problems and design defects, which had caused ten cases of single engine landings.
Out of the 17 remedial modifications to be carried out by MiG on delivered engines by November 2014, only 4 was implemented as of September 2015, and the remaining were to be carried out during overhaul in Russia.
Also despite modifications and improvements, numerous airframe defects including shearing of engine mounting side bolt, failures of INCOM mounting tray, failure of radar scanner mountings, have occurred during deck operations which had an adverse impact on Indian Navy pilots training and capability of aircraft for undertaking prolonged deployments.
The 6000 hours or 25 years (whichever is earlier) service life of the aircraft was also reduced due to longer build up time after delivery, ranging from 2 to 15 months.
Fly-by-wire system of the aircraft also demonstrated poor reliability ranging from 3.5 percent to 7.5 percent between July 2012 and June 2014.
Further, deliveries of the 13 aircraft under the Option Clause contract scheduled between 2012 and 2016 was much ahead of the delivery schedule of its INS Vikrant carrier in 2023.
The carrier borne multi role air superiority fighter is riddled with problems in its airframe, RD-33 MK engines and fly by wire systems, the report says.
CAG slammed the Indian Navy for accepting the MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighters being acquired from 2009 in a $ 2.2 billion deal. According to the first deal, 16 fighters were acquired to arm the INS Vikramaditya (ex-Admiral Gorshkov) carrier, while an option clause contract for 29 additional aircraft was signed in March 2010 in which 13 would arm the indigenous INS Vikrant carrier.
The fleet demonstrated poor serviceability, ranging from 15.93 to 37.63 percent by the MiG-29K, while 21.3 to 47.14 percent for the twin seat MiG-29KUB trainers.
Even though advanced and improved than its predecessor, the RD-33MK engine still had reliability problems and design defects, which had caused ten cases of single engine landings.
Out of the 17 remedial modifications to be carried out by MiG on delivered engines by November 2014, only 4 was implemented as of September 2015, and the remaining were to be carried out during overhaul in Russia.
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| MiG-29KUB trainer during trials in Russia |
Fly-by-wire system of the aircraft also demonstrated poor reliability ranging from 3.5 percent to 7.5 percent between July 2012 and June 2014.
Further, deliveries of the 13 aircraft under the Option Clause contract scheduled between 2012 and 2016 was much ahead of the delivery schedule of its INS Vikrant carrier in 2023.
The $30 million Full Mission Simulators designed for the ground training of pilot was assessed to be unsuitable for Carrier Qualification (CQ) simulator training for pilots, as the visuals did not support the profile which required high accuracy and fidelity.
