The MiG-29 has been a regular fixture at Farnborough since the type made its Western air show debut here 20 years ago. But this year, instead of bringing one of its own demonstrators with a Design Bureau pilot, the Russian MiG Aircraft Corporation is being represented in the flying display by a frontline MiG-29 from the Slovakian Air Force, as it was at the recent Berlin air show.
This is appropriate, as Europe remains a centre of upgrade activity for the MiG-29, and the Slovakian MiG-29s have recently been extensively upgraded - fully equipped with Western avionics and new systems, some of them made in Slovakia.
The requirement to upgrade Slovakia’s MiGs emerged in 2004, when, faced with the need to operate within NATO, Slovakia had to choose between a major upgrade of its existing aircraft fleet, or procurement of a new type. The Slovaks decided to upgrade 10 single-seat MiG-29s and two MiG-29UB two-seat trainers to the new MiG-29AS and UBS standard, drawn from the air force’s fleet of 18 single-seaters and three two-seat aircraft.
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The upgrade was a two-stage process, with the first stage being marked by a shift to ‘on condition’ maintenance, and with the second seeing the aircraft being fitted with new IFF equipment, US radios, and an improved navigation system. Most obviously, the fleet is being repainted in a pixellated ‘digital Thunder’ camouflage, designed by Canada’s HyperStealth Biotechnology Corporation, which is also working with the Chilean air force on advanced digital camouflage schemes.
The first upgraded aircraft made its first flight after conversion on December 20 2007, and the new version was formally accepted into service at the end of February this year.
There are “almost 400 MiG-29 aircraft in service” in Europe, according to Anatoly Belov, RSK MiG’s Designer General. These aircraft serve with the air forces of Belarus, the Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. A number of these operators are upgrading their aircraft for continued operation.
Source: Flight International
