Moscow, August 13, RIA Novosti. Lima and Moscow signed a contract worth 106 million dollars to modernize 8 MiG-29 fighters that the Peruvian Army acquired in Russia and Belarus at the end of the 90s, Russian newspapers reported today.
"We have embarked on the right foot with the recovery of the operational capability of the Armed Forces and this contract is the best example of this," said the Peruvian defense minister, Antero Flores Aráoz, commenting on the signing of this document at the airbase Chiclayo.
Eight Peruvian Air Force MiG-29S/UB ('Fulcrum-C/B') fighter aircraft are to be upgraded by Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG in a deal announced on 12 August. Renamed MiG-29SMP (P for Peruvian), the fighters will receive improvements from the MiG-29SMT upgrade package, including new avionics, communications and electronic countermeasures systems, multifunction colour displays in the cockpit and HOTAS (hands-on throttle and stick) controls.
More details to the Peruvian MiG-29SMP upgrade:
- two UB two-seaters and six single seaters will be upgraded, the rest of the fleet will be overhauled and returned to active service
- the SMP standard is a bit inferior to SMT, instead of Zhuk-M a new heavily upgraded digital version of the N019 radar will be installed in order to skip the otherwise required structural modifications to the front of the fuselage
- the center of the fuselage will not be modified for larger fuel tanks of the MiG-29SMT version, original engines will be kept, as well.
- the aircraft will get SMT avionics, new RWR and advanced jammer, the present IRST will be replaced by upgraded version for enhanced passive detection and tracking as well as better off-boresight launch capabilities
- digital cockpit with man-machine interface, LCDs and HOTAS from SMT version will be installed
- the entire upgrade will be carried out by Peruvian Air Force's SEMAN (Servicio de Mantenimiento) facility, only the RD-33 engines will be refurbished in Russia