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MiG forced to pull out of Berlin air show

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, APRIL 29. Russia's MiG aircraft corporation has cancelled plans to take part in a Berlin air show, to save money for the construction of ship-borne fighters for the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier acquired by India.

A MiG spokesman said the decision to withdraw from the ILA-2004 international air fair opening in Berlin on May 10 was taken at the last moment, though the company had to pay a fine and risked losing potential contracts.

``We decided to use the $600,000 to $700,000 we would have spent on ILA-2004 for funding preparations for the manufacture of MiG fighter planes for India in the absence of advance payment from the Indian Government,'' the MiG spokesman, Yuri Chervakov, told The Hindu on Thursday. He said the last-minute withdrawal from the Berlin air show would cost MiG about $100,000 in fines.

According to information available to the MiG corporation, the first Indian money could arrive by the end of May, more than four months after the contract was signed.

The Indian Embassy sources blamed the payment delay on the MiG company, which was late in submitting the invoice. However, the MiG head, Viktor Toryanin, said he had sent the invoice immediately after signing the contract on January 20. He warned that further delays in making payments could jeopardise the 36-week deadline for the delivery of the first few MiG-29K planes.

Under a $700-million deal, the MiG Corporation is to build 12 combat MiG-29K planes and four MiG-29KUB trainers for deployment on Gorshkov, as well as to train Indian pilots to take off and land on the Gorshkov deck.

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