The Romanian aerospace company Aerostar has just completed upgrading eight of Mozambique Air Force’s MiG-21 Fishbed fighter aircraft in the belief that it would bring development to countries with limited resources, concurred Grigore Filip Aerostar president.
“We believe that this type of upgrade solution brings advantages to countries with precarious resources and we shall increase our efforts to interest them in our capabilities,” he said.
Under a 2013 contract, Aerostar upgraded six single-seat and two double-seat MiG-21 trainer variants in Bacau, Romania in addition to setting up a training programme for Mozambique ground staff and pilots.
The new upgrade comes at a time when the Mozambique aircraft has not been in operation for 20 years. But in the limelight, the Mozambique Air Force has slowly been coming back to life, with a history of experiencing poor serviceability since the country’s independence in 1975, in addition to the after effects of the collaps of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
Nevertheless, in addition to the upgrade of a twin-seat L-39 Albatros jet trainer aircraft GPS systems and advanced digital flight data recorders were installed on the aircraft in the duration of about four months.
The MiG-21 aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau combines both fighter and interceptor characteristics, designed to conduct short ground-controlled missions.
The aircraft is set to be operational with Bulgaria, Angola, North Korea, Romania, Serbia, Vietnam, and Egypt air forces.
The two remaining aircraft will be delivered this month.