The Russian aircraft building corporation "MiG" is increasing the serial production of modern fighters
The growth of production is carried out in the interests of foreign customers and the Russian Ministry of Defense. It was possible to make sure of this during the visiting meeting of the State Duma Defense Committee in Lukhovitsy near Moscow.
The production complex of the MiG corporation in Soviet times was designed to produce hundreds of fighters a year, but by the beginning of the 2000s, the enterprise had practically ceased to assemble new aircraft. Today the plant in Lukhovitsy is experiencing a rebirth associated with the development of new technologies and an increase in aircraft production. In the future, it should become the most modern full-cycle aircraft plant in the European part of Russia. Some of the shops are still filled with green lathes. But next to it, through the wall, there is a completely different picture: a clean shop, the latest digital robotic machine tools, processing parts of future aircraft. Young workers in branded overalls.
The large-scale renovation of production at MiG is associated with the creation of a new family of MiG-29K / KUB and MiG-29M / M2 fighters, as well as the promising 4 ++ generation MiG-35 fighter. All these aircraft have in common that they are designed as a new platform with great potential for increasing combat capabilities for a long time based on the use of technologies inherent in fifth-generation aircraft. The new fighters are outwardly similar to the classic MiG-29. However, these are completely new fighters with major changes in the design of the fuselage, onboard equipment, and materials used in production.
“Composites make up about 15% of the entire surface of the fuselage,” explains one of the workers of the enterprise, easily lifting an impressive fighter wing detail from the desktop. “It is two times lighter than aircraft aluminum, five times lighter than steel. Moreover, it is an order of magnitude stronger than them. The use of composites has significantly reduced the dry weight of new machines.
The savings were used to increase the combat load and fuel reserves. If the classic MiG-29 could carry 2.5 tons of suspensions, then the shipborne MiG-29K - 4.5 tons, and the promising MiG-35 - more than 6 tons. The internal tanks of the new MiGs can hold almost one and a half times more fuel. In addition, the aircraft received an in-flight refueling system, which, together with the new air-to-ground missiles, allows them to solve tasks previously available only to bombers.
The internal changes of the MiG are much more tangible. For example, on the MiG-29K / KUB, the wing mechanization was seriously changed, thanks to which the aircraft was able to take off with a shortened takeoff run and land at a lower landing speed. The fighter fully implements the "glass cockpit" principle. Instead of analog devices - digital ones. All indications are displayed on color liquid crystal displays. Instead of control rods - an electronic control system. In the west, it is also called fly-by-wire (flight by wire).
The onboard equipment of the aircraft has an open architecture, which allows the aircraft to be rapidly expanded through the integration of new systems and weapons. There is a modern airborne radar "Zhuk-ME", the latest electro-optical surveillance and sighting systems. Survival in battle has been significantly increased due to the introduction of elements of stealth technology and the enhancement of the capabilities of the on-board defense complex due to the installation of missile launch detection systems and laser irradiation.
The RD-33MK engines are a significantly improved version of the RD-33, which were installed on the classic MiG-29. Thanks to the revision of the motors, their power increased by 8%, and a modern digital control system FADEC was introduced.
The aircraft of the MiG-29K / KUB / M / M2 family have another feature that makes them more attractive to customers. The classic MiG-29 was designed for 2,500 flight hours and a service life of 20 years. The new MiGs can serve indefinitely, and the resource has grown to 6,000 flight hours. Moreover, the cost of a flight hour has been reduced by almost 2.5 times.
MiG-29K / KUB successfully passed difficult exams on the aircraft carriers "Admiral Kuznetsov" and "Vikramaditya", as well as in the naval aviation of India. RSK MiG produces them at a growing pace. In 2011, the corporation delivered 12 aircraft to the customer, and in 2012 it is planned to produce 24 aircraft. And in the future, according to the general director of the corporation Sergei Korotkov, the production rate is planned to be increased to 36 fighters per year.
“It seems to me that we are somewhat carried away by the fact that we have supplied so many MiGs to foreign customers, it’s time to arm our own army,” the chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Vladimir Komoedov jokingly complained after inspecting the production.
Sergei Korotkov noted that this wish is already being implemented. The enterprise has already started production of the MiG-29K / KUB for the naval aviation of the Russian Navy, under a contract signed in March 2012. All technical problems associated with the development of the aircraft have already been resolved.
- We have completed the second stage of testing on the ship. We have fulfilled it completely. The state customer signed a protocol that we completed this work and we no longer need the ship for further tests, '' emphasized Sergei Korotkov.
The successes during the sea trials of the MiG-29K / KUB perfectly reflect the general situation on the MiG, which in all respects is one of the leading positions in the industry. On the basis of the MiG-29K / KUB, airfield-based fighters have been created and mass-produced: the single-seat MiG-29M and the two-seater MiG-29M2. The serial version of the latter in 2012 was successfully demonstrated in Kazakhstan, Serbia and Slovakia. At the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Air Force, the public saw the MiG-29M2 in a joint flight with the fifth generation PAK FA fighter. In the future - the emergence of another novelty - the MiG-35 fighter - a multipurpose Russian fighter of the 4 ++ generation.
Its armament includes the latest Zhuk-AE active phased array radar. During test flights of the MiG-35 with a new on-board radar, all modes of its operation against air and ground targets were tested both in the rear hemisphere and in close combat. The radar detected and guided three air targets at ranges up to 148 km. That fully confirmed its compliance with modern - given tactical and technical requirements, including successful firing of an air-to-air missile. Confirming that the combat performance of the fighter brings it closer to the fifth generation models. According to Sergei Korotkov, the purchase of these machines has already been spelled out in the State Armament Program until 2020. And it will be supplied to combat units starting in 2014.
- The machine is there, it is ready, quite smart and competent, modern, - confirmed the chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Vladimir Komoedov.
According to experts, in terms of their combat capabilities, flight technical and operational characteristics, the new MiGs are at least not inferior to modern foreign fighters of the 4+ and 4 ++ generations, which are mass-produced and enter service with the United States (F / A -18E / F) and Western European states (Rafale, Typhoon, Gripen). And in terms of the efficiency / cost ratio, the MiG-29K / KUB / M / M2 is one of the most promising proposals on the world market. Moreover, in the situation of the cessation of production of the Mirage 2000 and the expected withdrawal from the market of the F-16 fighter, the Russian aircraft simply will not have Western competitors in the market niche of inexpensive light / medium class fighters.
According to representatives of the MiG corporation, there is a substantive interest in the MiG-29M / M2 on the part of customers in the CIS countries and Southern Europe. India, having received 16 MiG-29K / KUB, ordered another 29 such fighters. In the context of the same India, MiG is fulfilling a contract for the modernization of 63 Indian MiG-29s according to the MiG-29UPG standard. Within its framework, the aircraft will be equipped with the Zhuk-ME radar, which will extend the service life of the fighters for another 20 years. The corporation's portfolio of export orders for the MiG is already 4, 4 billion dollars and there are good prospects for its further increase.
The modernization of production in Lukhovitsy suggests that the corporation intends to seriously fight not only for an external, but also an internal customer. The success of the program for the creation of the MiG-29K / KUB carrier-based fighter allows us to hope for the preservation of the only aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov in the Navy and a significant increase in its combat potential. New carrier-based fighters make logical further plans to create an aircraft carrier fleet in Russia. The MiG-29M / M2 will make it possible to preserve the ground group of light fighters. And the appearance of the MiG-35 will bring it very close in terms of combat capabilities to the 5th generation fighters.
