Military Procurement International Vol. 19, No. 7, April 1, 2009
Copyright DAPSS S.A., 200
9, Switzerland. It is unlawful to reproduce any of this publication without written permission from the publisher.
RUSSIA
Mig-29s grounded
Due to corrosion found during ongoing safety inspections, 91 out of 190 RSK MiG MiG-29 Fulcrums of the Russian Federal Air Force (RFAF) inspected up to mid-March have been grounded. The RFAF’s remaining 101 MiG-29s are now being inspected.
The inspections follow two MiG-29 crashes, last October and December, in which the wrecks were found to have extensive corrosion to the attachment points between the aircraft’s fuselage and vertical empennage.
It is unclear whether the grounded aircraft will require new empennage structures, or if remedial work could be limited only to the affected attachment points. Possible contributory factors to the corrosion include the poor maintenance that RFAF MiGs received during the 1990s and early 2000s, and the widespread use of aggressive fluids for anti-icing.
The Indian Air Force, which operates 67 MiG-29s, is continuing to fly its aircraft for the time being. According to an IAF spokesman, “We are continuing to operate our MiG-29s but are in touch with the Russians on the problems their fighters are facing.”