By IANS,
New Delhi: European aerospace giant Thales has been chosen to modernise avionics on the Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet of MiG-29 multi-role fighters to enable interoperability with Western military aircraft so as to avoid friendly fire, it was announced Thursday.
The jet’s manufacturer, Russian Aircraft Corporation, MiG (RSK-MiG), has chosen Thales to provide the Combined Interrogator Transponder (CIT) and Cryptographic National Secure Mode (NSM) as part of the MiG-29’s retrofit to enhance their capabilities and increase their service life, a Thales statement said.
The cryptographic mode will equip India with the first national secure identification capability for protecting its own assets.
Under the latest contract, Thales is set to deliver the first IFF (identification friend or foe) CIT to MiG in 2010, with the initial building block of a comprehensive secure identification capability delivered in mid-2011.
The CIT is one of the most advanced systems compliant with the latest NATO and International Civil Aviation Organisation standards and regulations. Some 16,000 units of IFF equipment have been installed onboard more than one hundred types of platforms worldwide including airborne, ground and naval platforms, the Thales statement said.
Thales will also supply the IAF’s MiG-29 fighters with the TOTEM 3000 latest generation Inertial Navigation and Global Positioning System.
In addition, Thales is also equipping the Indian Navy’s newly acquired MiG-29KUB aircraft with the Topsight E helmet-mounted sight/display (HMS/D), for which it successfully completed integration phase with the aircraft in November 2009.
Thales’s cooperation with MiG started in 1993 with the design and supply of a full avionics suite for the Russian Advanced Trainer MiG-AT. This opened up new cooperation on programmes such as the MiG-21 and MiG-29 upgrades, the statement said.
Thales is a global technology leader for the aerospace and space, defence, security and transportation markets. In 2009, the company generated revenues of 12.9 billion euros with 68,000 employees in 50 countries.