Russian MiG To Focus On Simulators

The Russian Aircraft Corp., MiG showcased its latest simulator on the first day of Aero India 2013 in Bangalore. Considered the most crucial aspect of fighter aircraft operation, the simulator offers training in mid-air refueling.

Known as the FMS-M29 simulator, it covers a whole complex of combat and flight training for pilots of MiG-29 aircrafts. It can operate in several modes, in which it imitates operations and functions of a real MiG-29 aircraft. The goal of the system of which is to configure, monitor, evaluate and record the task being trained is of prime importance. The FMS-M29 simulator is a visual simulator, which displays surrounding environment and objects in it with high accuracy.

The simulator can be configured to offer training on a number of other fighter aircraft as well with some changes in its software.  Mikhail T Globenko, Deputy Director General for Marketing of MiG told defenseworld.net that his company would focus more on simulators in future to increase pilot efficiency. “Use of simulators means less of flying for training purposes”, he said

In December 2012, the Indian Navy took delivery of a a full-mission simulator complete with Avior laser system for the carrier variant of its MiG-29K fighter planes from Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH.

The Indian Air Force operates a large number of Russian aircraft with MiGs constituting about 40 percent of the fighter aircraft inventory. According to official reports, the IAF has inducted a total of 946 MiG-21s in its fleet and 476 of them have been lost in various accidents over the past 45 years.

As of 2010, 1050 MiG aircraft have entered into service with air forces around the world.