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Date Posted: 10-Jun-2004
JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY – JUNE 16, 2004
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VALERIY TORYANIN – DIRECTOR GENERAL AND DESIGNER GENERAL, RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CORPORATION MIG
Piotr Butowski JDW Correspondent
Moscow
The Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG (RSK-MiG) is pinning its medium-term future on new variants of its MiG-29 warhorse and in the long term is looking to develop a lightweight combat fighter, says Valeriy Toryanin, RSK-MiG director and designer general.
Appointed in November 2003, Toryanin needs to lead RSK-MiG into new aircraft products after a disappointing 2002, when its MiG-AT bid lost to Yakovlev’s Yak-130 for Russia’s next-generation combat trainer. Shortly after that the company lost to Sukhoi’s modified conventional rear-swept-wing Su-47 in Russia’s next-generation fighter contest.
Internationally the company remains strong in its traditional markets, especially India. In January, RSK-MiG signed a contract with India to provide 16 MiG-29K/KUB carrier- borne fighters for the Indian Navy, with an option for another 30, for deployment aboard the 44,500-ton Russian Kiev-class aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.
Toryanin is confident there is still a future for the MiG-29 and new variants. “Signing the contract with India and creating this shipborne fighter is a powerful impulse for the development of MiG and for the creation of further aircraft of the MiG-29 family. Therefore, this contract has a crucial importance for us,” Toryanin says.
“In spite of external similarity with the basic MiG-29, the MiG-29K has completely new radar, navigation and piloting equipment, modern air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons as well as an extended flight range.”
The company is continuing to push into the Indian market, proposing the MiG-29M/M2 versions and a mid-life upgrade of existing MiG-29s to MiG-29SMT standard for the Indian Air Force. “The MiG-29M/M2 has 90% commonality with the MiG-29K/KUB [and] it differs from the latter only in take-off and landing equipment,” says Toryanin.
“At India’s request, we are working on a modernised version of the MiG-29 with a smaller variant of the N-011M Bars multimode radar [used by Indian Su-30MKI fighters] to provide compatibility, which is very important for the Indian Air Force. Moreover, the phased-array antenna increases the radar capability.”
Toryanin acknowledges the hard road ahead, where RSK-MiG is likely to face other Russian aircraft companies in all national competitions. However, he flatly rejects any merger of his company and Sukhoi, where he was director general before joining RSK-MiG. “The fusion of MiG with Sukhoi is impractical. I know about the rumours – that I came to MiG in order to join it with Sukhoi – but this is nonsense,” he says.
“A [competitive atmosphere] is one of the main driving forces behind the progress. If only one [Russian] company makes combat aircraft, then the risk of choosing the wrong way for further development will be increased considerably.”
The company believes there is a market for another 300 MiG-29s and work will continue on improving the airframe and systems to keep it modern.
Although the company has been promised substantial subcontracting work on the next-generation fighter being built by Sukhoi for the Russian air force, it is pushing ahead with its plans for a lighter aircraft. This is planned to be a balance of size with cost: large enough to be effective in combat, but small enough to stay within a low-cost budget.
“To survive, our company must develop our speciality – a lightweight fighter,” Toryanin says. “This is a boundary project: any aircraft of smaller size would not be effective enough in combat, whereas a bigger aircraft would be too expensive and not competitive.
“There are eight [countries] capable of purchasing heavy fighters of the Su-27 size. Two of them, China and India, are starting their own licensed production of the Su-27 and Su-30 and this will do for 15-20 years. That means that the market for heavy fighters becomes narrower and narrower.
“If Russia focuses its efforts on heavy fighters only, we may expect that it won’t be exported to the countries with limited financial capability [and] the whole market of lightweight fighters will be mastered by the US and Europe, as well as by Chinese and Indian offers.
“If Russia does not offer a lightweight tactical combat aircraft after 2010 [it] will lose its military-political and economic influence in many regions of the world.”
Toryanin describes a nightmare scenario for Russian industry without the new fighter, under which it would lose up to 75% of its aircraft export market. International partnerships have been excluded as an option since the company wants to maintain what it sees as its technical edge.
The failure of the MiG-AT to win its home market has not dampened Toryanin’s hopes and he expects a contract signature for an order soon.
RSK-MiG looks positively toward the end of the costly development phase of the 102-seat Tu-334 civilian aircraft. The programme was one of the reasons for the shake-up of top management at RSK-MiG, which resulted in Toryanin taking up his position. The Tu-334 programme required a substantial commitment of research and development funding to the detriment of other projects.
“MiG has invested [substantially] in a new final assembly hall in Lukhovitsy, where six Tu-334 and 10 MiG-29 aircraft can be assembled simultaneously,” says Toryanin. “Against an order from the Kamov design bureau, our branch in Lukhovitsy has made the first airframe of the Ka-60U military training helicopter; in November 2003, it was delivered to Kamov. Military Ka-60 and civil Ka-62 helicopters will also be [built] here.”
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June 12, 2004 at 1:22 am