New fire control system proves to be effective (260 words)

Published: 12/22/2000

The flight evaluation programme on two Indian Air Force MiG-21bis fighters, upgraded to the MiG-21bis UPG standard (earlier “Russian” designation is MiG-21-93) has been completed, according to a NIIR-Phazotron corporation spokesman. The programme was undertaken by RSK MiG, the Sokol aircraft plant of Nizhny Novgorod, Phazotron-NIIR and the State Scientific Research Institute for Aviation Systems (GosNII AS). It called for both the improvement of the aircraft's ability to counter more recent fighter designs and for the extension of its ground attack capabilities, while keeping airframe and power plant changes to a minimum. The modernization focused on the creation of a modern avionics suite. Particularly noteable is a new fire-control system, built around the Phazotron-NIIR's Kopyo coherent multi-mode radar, featuring a Cossagrain antenna. The flight evaluation programme involved two RVV-AE missiles with active radar seekers, being simultaneously fired at two drones and hitting both targets according to NIIR-Phazotron. Also tested, were the Kopyo's terrain-mapping mode, using Doppler sharpening and synthesized aperture technologies. In air-to-ground modes, the radar proved able to select moving targets and map-freezing, thus giving the aircraft a secondary role as a ground attack aircraft. Phazotron-NIIR also said that they had supplied the Indian Air Force with the first production batch of the Kopyo radars. It is understood that the Kopyo has also been offered for installation on the MiG-29UB trainers which currently lack radar, but this would require the removal of the optical sighting system. The Kopyo is also being considered for the MiG-21MF fighters (for instance, in the MiG-21-98 proposal), which are still in service with many smaller air forces.

Article ID: 2264