Russian Zhuk-ME Radar Undermined Combat Capability of Indian MiG-29s

The hacker group Black Mirror has released documents detailing chronic technical problems with the Zhuk-ME radar station installed on Indian MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighters.

The group announced this on its social media, according to Defence Blog.

The documents reveal the results of many years of discussions between Russian and Indian officials regarding the low reliability of the radar, repeated failures of its components and the Russian side’s failure to fulfill its contractual obligations.

According to the materials, the system’s reliability level was significantly lower than the indicators set out in the contract between India and the Russian Aircraft Corporation ‘MiG’ (Mikoyan), concluded in 2004.

The document states that the contract provided for an average time between radar failures of 150 flight hours and 120 hours between defects.

At the same time, the actual data collected during the annual Russian-Indian reliability conferences at the Indian Navy’s Hansa naval air station showed much worse results.

From 2016 to 2018, the MiG-29K fleet repeatedly faced radar failure. At the beginning of 2016, the reliability indicators were only 20 hours between failures and 97 hours between defects, which is significantly lower than the contractual standards.

By mid-2017, the average time between defects had dropped to 60 hours, although subsequent tests temporarily showed a slight improvement. Nevertheless, the Indian military continued to record numerous malfunctions and file official complaints about ‘unsatisfactory radar performance.’

Internal correspondence mentions numerous memoranda from the Indian Navy – in particular, from March, June, and July 2018 – which emphasized repeated breakdowns of the Zhuk-ME units and delays in their repair.

The Indian side demanded that all radar systems be redesigned at Russia’s expense after limited tests of three modernized samples showed only ‘satisfactory’ results, without eliminating system reliability problems.

In response, the Russian company Phazotron-NIIR, the developer of the radar, allegedly carried out several redesigns and replacements of the units under the supervision of the Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies KRET, a part of Rostec.

By May 2019, the Indian Navy had officially removed Zhuk-ME from its certificate of original equipment, effectively depriving it of the status of a certified component for MiG-29K/KUB aircraft.