Times of Islamabad

Indian Air Force entire MiG 29 fleet undergoes massive upgrade to make multirole lethal fighter jets

Indian Air Force entire MiG 29 fleet undergoes massive upgrade to make multirole lethal fighter jets

NEW DELHI – Indian Air Force entire MiG 29 fleet undergoes massive upgradeto make multirole lethal fighter jets, Indian media has reported.

Indian Air Force (IAF) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29s Fighter Jets undergoextensive upgrade which will increase their service life and make them amore lethal multirole fighter.

Known as Baaz in the IAF, there are 69 such jets out of which 67 havealready been upgraded to the MiG-29UPG standard.

The upgrade will make the MiG-29s multirole combat aircraft capable ofundertaking air-to-air as well as air-to-ground operations.

The upgraded MiG-29s are equipped with mid-air refuelling to increase theirrange, latest avionics kit, sub-systems, 120 RD-33 series turbofan engines,Phazotron Zhuk-M radar, ability to deliver smart bombs and beyond visualrange air-to-air missiles.

Out of the 69 MiG-29s with the IAF, the first six were upgraded in Russiawhile the work on the remaining 63 aircraft was carried out at Ojhar.

IAF fighters undergo upgradation at the 11 BRD, which was set up in 1975and if the only one of its kind workshop in India. The 11 BRD has alreadybeen upgrading the MiG-29s since 1996 and even the Sukhoi Su-30MKIs since2018.