MiG-29s will give MiG badly needed cash (206 words)

Published: 3/29/2001

Bangladesh has agreed the purchase of an additional 16 MiG-29s, according to Air Vice Marshal Jamal Uddin Ahmed of the Bangladesh Air Force, in a report carried by Russian news agency, Novosti. The deal, according to reports, is valued at $210m and follows the controversial $125m deal (subsequent reports have suggested the value to be $115m) in June 1999, for eight aircraft that were delivered in March 2000. For RSK MiG, the deal will be of considerable relief, as the Bangladeshis have yet again provided orders when they were urgently needed by the hard-pressed producer, as it continued to push its' Tu-334 towards the market despite frequent delays, largely due to funding. The only other current interest in the MiG-29 is in its carrier variant the MiG-29K, from India. The order has yet to be officially confirmed by Bangladesh, which must be of some concern to RSK MiG, as the earlier order attracted considerable political debate in Bangladesh and legal action was unsuccessfully taken to halt it being placed. If the order is confirmed, according to sources, the first aircraft could be arriving in the country by the end of the summer.

Article ID: 2452