India unhappy with Russian involvement in Chinese military programmes

Published: 6/6/2000

According to sources within the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Indian Foreign Ministry have sent a note complaining about Russian involvement in the development of the new Chinese single-seat air superiority and ground attack fighter, the FC-1, which has been receiving development assistance from MiG, Klimov and Phazatron for several years. MiG is reported to be involved in advising the Chinese on the structure and aerodynamics of the aircraf , which is expected to fly later this year. The reason for the Indian concern being that the aircraft's first export customer MiG-21is likely to be Pakistan. The involvement of Russian companies in the development of the FC-1 and other Chinese projects, although long standing, has been less publicised of late, given the importance of Indian defence orders, particularly to MiG, currently involved with Sokol in the modernisation of 125 MiG-21bis into MiG-21-93I equipped with Phazatron Kopyo radar. According to sources, the Russian Foreign Ministry was being highly diplomatic in its response to the Indians, claiming that agreement between Russia and China prohibits the export of hardware developed with Russian assistance. Given that the Pakistanis have a potential commitment of 150 aircraft and have participated in its development, this appears to be a curious position to take. The producers are however, tight-lipped about any potential Indian complications and appear to be following a Russian government directive of not speaking publicly about Chinese contracts. It is also unclear, given that the Russian's involvement was well known, why the Indians would choose this pointing time to make their complaint, other than the fact that the aircraft appears to be closer to flying for the first time and they are about to start the serial production of the MiG-21-93I at Hindustan Aeronautics in the new year. The FC-1 (also known as the Super 7) is developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Croup. It features the RD-93, a modified RD-33 engine in use on the MiG-29, and a new Phazatron multi-mode radar. That letter is in fact a modified Kopyo from the MiG-21-93I.

Article ID: 1843