Ukraine seeks an alternative to the Russian way of upgrading military aircraft

In 1999 Kyiv announced the beginning of a project to upgrade Ukraine’s MIG-29 jet fighter fleet. At the time, several alternative projects were studied, but all of them one way or another led to Russia in a sense that arrangements were to be made with the Russian MIG Plant that built these aircraft.

LOOKING FOR THE BEST OPTION

Now in its sixth year, the project to upgrade the Ukrainian MIGs drags on. Initially the project participants cited inadequate funding. Yet this is far from the main reason. According to the Military Balance journal, the Ukrainian Air Force has 217 MiG-29 jet fighters (199 are part of its arsenal, two are used in practice flights, and sixteen are in storage), while some experts claim that Ukraine has many more MIGs. In any case, Ukraine does not need that many jet fighters. Moreover, already in 2001 the number of military pilots undergoing training was limited, with 88 partners or 176 pilots graduating that year. As a result of the upcoming army strength reductions as part of the defense reform only several dozen MIG-29 jet fighters will remain in the fleet.

Given the fact that this plane is considered reliable and quite menacing, a greater part of the fleet could be sold when upgraded. Incidentally, there are buyers in the market for these jets. Several months ago Kyiv received American businessmen, who expressed their readiness to sell up to four dozen Ukrainian jet fighters to third countries. The prospect of selling the aircraft made expensive Russian upgrades worth considering. Otherwise, Ukraine could ill afford upgrading the jet fighters at the cost of seven million US apiece. However, the Russian side opposes the re-export of Ukrainian jets.

Aside from its refusal to allow the sale of the jets, the Russian side is charging a price for upgrades, which is several times higher than what the Ukrainian military can afford. Meanwhile, at the last meeting in Kyiv in mid-March the Russian colleagues offered Ukrainians to buy the scheme of upgrades or, put simply, permission to perform upgrades, for seventeen million US. Naturally, the upgrades alone will carry a heavy price tag. All this has led the Ukrainian military to consider performing different upgrades on separate MiG-29 jets independently.

One of the proposals has been to obtain permission for Ukraine’s chief designers to upgrade and extend the service life of the basic jet modifications. To this end, a political decision must be made that was once made in Israel, Poland, and Bulgaria: we upgrade the jets, bear the responsibility for any consequences, and service the upgraded jets for the rest of their lives. Moreover, Ukrainian plants have already mastered a significant part of upgrading techniques. In 2002 the Lviv Aircraft Repair Plant developed a program of small-scale upgrading of MiG-29, which makes it possible to enhance combat performance of the aircraft by equipping it with guided air-to-surface missiles. The Lutsk Aircraft Repair Plant “Motor” can overhaul the engines. The Khmelnytsky-based Novator Plant can handle the repairs of airborne radars. The Spetstekhsklo [Special Technical Glass] Plant in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk oblast, has developed new laminated cockpit glass. The Kyiv-based Arsenal Plant will supply helmet navigation control systems, and Artem Plant will manufacture air-to-air missiles.

BETWEEN THE LEADING AND SUPPORT AIRCRAFT

Moreover, MiG-29 upgrades could be performed with the help of foreign companies which possess Western technologies that meet NATO standards. Defense Ministry specialists do not rule out such an option as long as it can solve the whole range of problems connected with upgrading the jets. Above all this concerns extending the service life of the aircraft and interfacing aircraft armaments with Western avionics.

Formerly, Ukraine’s Air Force, Israel’s IAI Company, and Russian Avionics Design Bureau agreed to upgrade test samples of MiG-29 jets at the expense of these companies. Ukraine’s Air Force was to provide the aircraft and facilities of one of its aircraft repair plants. Yet this agreement has remained on paper, although specialists consider this option of cooperation among Ukraine, Russia, and Israel the most promising. The project cost was a little over six million US.

The second best option was the one proposed by the Russian Avionics Design Bureau. However, it did not envision extending the service life of the aircraft, and instead was to enhance radar performance, increase the assortment of weapons, and upgrade the information and control field in the cockpit. At one million US, such modernization was quite cost-effective.

The Israeli IAI Company offered to equip the jet with modern radar, state-of-the-art avionics, and a glass cockpit, but left out extending the service life of the aircraft and interfacing the main weapon of the aircraft, R-7 missile, with the new Israeli radar. The company agreed to cover the project costs of four million US. The Ukrainian Air Force had to solve the remaining problems with the Russian MIG Plant.

The above were in fact modernization projects, while the option proposed by the MIG Plant in 2001 envisioned the replacement of 80% of the equipment, which in fact meant assembling a new jet.

In the first half of 2003, the Ukrainian and Russian sides reached an agreement, whereby the aircraft would keep equipment and systems which the Ukrainian specialists consider reliable so as to cut modernization costs. But what kind of an aircraft will this be? Will it meet NATO requirements? Ukrainian Air Force specialists believe that in this case NATO standards have not been taken into account.

This means that aside from its desire to monopolize the market of MIG-29 upgrades our northern neighbor also wants to retain its control of the aircraft fleets in the countries that seek NATO membership. This cannot possibly satisfy Ukraine.

ALTERNATIVE SMALL-SCALE MODERNIZATION

As was to be expected, alternative proposals have been put forward by representatives of the private business. The Lviv-based private MATS Concern, which has close ties with the Defense Ministry, has offered a separate design bureau to be made up of representatives of the MATS Concern, Lviv Aircraft Repair Plant, Ukrspetseksport [Ukrainian Special Export] State Company, and Air Force Research Center. MATS has offered to invest its own funds (some four million US) in the research and development project. “The scheme proposed by the concern benefits everybody,” MATS president Ihor Krol is convinced. “The Defense Ministry will have its aircraft upgraded at no cost; Ukrspetseksport State Company will be able to sell upgraded and not obsolete aircraft, while the concern itself, by shouldering all the risks connected with the implementation of the project, will expand the sphere of its business activity.”

The risks are very high. But the bottleneck in the independent Ukrainian project is the relationship with Russia. Yet the MATS Concern hopes that the Russian MIG Plant will approve the upgrades scheme proposed by the Ukrainians.

The first steps in the implementation of this project have been made, with the relevant proposals signed by all the interested parties and approved by the top officials in the Defense Ministry. Experts believe that given the existing technical resources completing the research and development project will take at least two years. This is a long time. Yet considering the fact that the military has not yet agreed on the technical requirements for MIG upgrades, the project has the right to exist and could in fact prove successful.