The MiG-29M2, also referred to as MiG-29MRCA, was flown for the first time on 26 September with RSK test-pilots Pavel Vlasov and Marat Alykov at the controls.
The flight from the Gromov flight test and research institute at Zhukovsky lasted 50min and was uneventful, according to RSK. The pilots say the aircraft's handling qualities are not notably different from the navalised MiG-29K with which the land-based MiG-29M2 is 80-90% common, including folding wings for on-board storage and the Phazotron-NIIR Zhuk-M mechanically-scanned, multimode radar.
The MiG-29MRCA is to participate at this month's Langkawi air show in Malaysia. The aircraft is competing with Boeing's F/A-18F Super Hornet and the Sukhoi Su-30MKM for a Malaysian air force order.
Meanwhile, RSK has secured a $300 million deal with the Yemen for MiG-29s, according to Russian daily newspaper Vedomosti. The order is also believed to include upgrade work on Yemen's small fleet of Mikoyan MiG-21fighters.
The agreement includes an option for a further $100 million worth of aircraft. RSK MiG declines to comment on the deal. It is of vital importance to RSK MiG, which had sales of only $100 million last year.
"Judging by the value of the deal, it could mean the delivery of up to 24 MiG-29s," says Marat Kenzhetayev of the Moscow institute of physics and technology's centre for arms control. The aircraft are set to come from around 40 MiG-29s built in the early 1990s but never delivered.
Yemen has around 20 late model MiG-21s remaining from a batch of 100 delivered in the early 1980s and 10 MiG-29s delivered by Moldova in the mid-1990s. The company also sold eight MiG-29 fighter jets and two MiG-29UB trainers to Myanmar for $150 million earlier this year.
Source: Flight International
