Indian Navy MIG-29k Is Testing A New Mission Computer

The Indian Navy is testing a new mission computer for its carrier-based fighter aircraft Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K/KUB.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a defence company owned by the government, made the mission computer (HAL). HAL told Janes that the new system will give the navy the freedom to combine air-launched weapons made in India or in the West with the Soviet-era MiG-29K.

Janes was told by a source in the industry who knew about the project that the programme started in January 2021, after Russia refused to upgrade the mission computer or give HAL the source code.

In a statement, R Madhavan, who used to be the Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, said that the MiG-29K/KUB can only carry Russian-made weapons on air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.

“The plane can’t be used with weapons that weren’t made in Russia without a lot of changes,” Madhavan said. “It’s hard to put local weapons or weapons from the West on the MiG-29 because we don’t have any design data or documentation about how the system is put together.”

The Indian Navy thinks that the MiG-29inability K’s to carry weapons made in India is a “serious limitation,” HAL told Janes.

Janes has heard that the navy has been testing the flight computer since June 2022. “The trials are going on right now. “The system is being tested on a number of different levels,” HAL said.

“We think it could take between six and eight months to finish the trials,” said a source in the business.