BY : PTI



Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC) MiG will set up a spare parts depot in India to improve the product support for its top of the line fighters in service with the Indian Air Force (IAF).

On the sidelines of the ongoing international MAKS-2007 air show near here, RAC MiG and joint venture Indo-Russian Aerospace Ltd (IRAL) have signed the contract for establishing the MiG aircraft spare parts depot in India "to meet the Customer's demands with respect to the spares and materials upon urgent indents," a corporate release said here today.

IRAL JV was set up in 1994 by HAL and Russian Arms Exporting Corporation "RosOboronExport" to resolve the acute problem of spares after the Soviet collapse.

The depot shall allow sustaining the traditionally high availability rate of the IAF aircraft fleet by storing the specific nomenclature of spares and materials required for the timely aircraft maintenance whether operational or periodic.

At the same time the depot shall ensure the tarmac readiness for all MiGs operated by the IAF.

Reference list of spare parts was developed on basis of the Russian MiG-29 aircraft reliability indices, of the IAF indents' analyses and the Indian side's recommendations.

After-sale support infrastructure build-up is envisaged by the package contract for the delivery of the ship-borne MiG-29K/KUB for the Indian Navy signed in 2004 as part of the Gorshkov deal.