"A flight training simulator and other
technical equipment has also been delivered,"
MiG said in a statement May 30.
The two countries signed a contract stipulating
the supply of 12 single-seat MiG-29Ks and four
two-seat MiG-29KUBs to India in January 2004.
The contract is part of a $1.5-billion deal to
deliver the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier,
currently being retrofitted in Russia for the
Indian Navy.
India's first four MiG-29Ks and MiG-29KUBs officially
entered service in February 2010.
In March 2010, Russia and India signed a $1.5-billion
contract on the supplies of 29 additional MiG-29K
Fulcrum-D carrier-based fighter jets to New Delhi.
The start of the supplies is scheduled for 2012.
The contracts for the jets also stipulate pilot
training and aircraft maintenance, including the
delivery of flight simulators and interactive
ground and sea-based training systems.
The Indian Navy has named its MiG-29K squadron
the "Black Panthers". The fighters will
be based at an airfield in Goa on India's west
coast until the Admiral Gorshkov joins the Navy
under the name of INS Vikramaditya in early 2013.
The Vikramaditya is expected to carry up to 24
MiG-29K/KUB fighters. The future indigenous aircraft
carrier Vikrant being built by India may also
carry these aircraft.
(IANS/RIA Novosti)
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