India to examine whether to acquire MiG-29 jets from Malaysia

A committee of defence experts will examine whether to consider buying MiG-29 fighter jets from Malaysia and upgrade them for use by Indian Air Force. 

A committee of defence experts will examine whether to consider buying MiG-29 fighter jets from Malaysia and upgrade them for use by Indian Air Force. At the end of his visit here, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had said India is keen to buy MiG-29 fighter jets from his country and upgrade them for use by IAF. Government sources said a committee of experts will examine the issue following which a decision may be arrived at.
Najib had said the proposal was among the aspects of military cooperation agreed to by Malaysia and India during
his visit to New Delhi and talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the India’s Ministry of Defence and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) would look at the form of cooperation, including handling the Sukhoi aircraft and spare parts.“There is a possibility too that they (India) will buy our MiG 29 aircraft for refit. We reciprocate by accepting spare
parts for our Sukhoi aircraft programme,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency. According to leading military aviation magazine, ‘AirForces Monthly’, the Royal Malaysian Air Force in 1995 procured 18 MiG-29N from Russia, and presently has 10 MiG-29N and 2 MiG-29NU (Trainers) in its fleet. Earlier, it had been reported that India had taken into consideration if they would pay for the repairs of grounded helicopters and tranport planes from the Afghan’s air force. This could be considered as India’s willingness to help Kabul’s millitary, something which has time and again irked Pakistan. According to reports, India estimated that it would cost $50 million for new parts and repairs to 11 grounded Soviet-made Mi-35 helicopters and seven transport aircraft, after sending a team of experts to assess the Afghan air force’s needs last year, the Indian ambassador to Kabul told Reuters.

 financialexpress