Algeria to return Russia's 'sub-standard' jets

belacan79

Algeria to return Russia's 'sub-standard' jets
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 3:11am GMT 20/02/2008


Russia's ambitions to become the world's pre-eminent arms exporter have suffered a setback after Algeria told the Kremlin it wanted to send back 15 fighter jets because they were sub-standard.

Algerian military chiefs have allegedly complained that the aircraft, the first of a consignment of 36 MiG29 jets, were second-hand rather than new and proved faulty during initial testing. Moscow denied the allegations.

Russia's state-owned defence industries have denied that the agreement was close to collapse, but there have been private concessions that more sophisticated aircraft will have to be offered as part of a face-saving deal.

Mr Putin has personally backed plans to re-energise arms sales in an effort to demonstrate Russia's growing international influence.

By expanding into markets that the West has ignored, Russia's arms exports are growing by 25 per cent a year.

After lucrative deals with Syria, Iran, Burma and Sudan, Russia is the world's second biggest arms dealer after America.

But as exports have grown, so too has criticism of its reputation as a quality arms merchant, with some saying that Moscow was overly dependent on an ageing stockpile of Soviet military "left-overs".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../wrussia120.xml

Debmey

They sold second hand stuff as new? I find this ridiculous.

airfilterkotor

well...at least its much more better than u buy but u received nothing.

areguard

Dia sebenarnya nak kaitkan kununnya mig29 kitapun mungkin seken hand jugak...bukan takboleh baca akai dia...

niceghost2005

Originally posted by airfilterkotor at 22-2-2008 04:24 PM
well...at least its much more better than u buy but u received nothing.

Macam Iran n Pakistan.......kan kan kan
Dah bayor.............................tup tup kena tahan n tak dapat barang!!!

Itu ler Uncle Sam empunyer ceghiter.
Kalau kapiaq tu...........kapiaq juga.

yaminz

British pon samo...

airfilterkotor

derang guna kuasa vetto,

"fit for, BUT not with"

haa.... tak dapat sungguh!

johngage

Russia suspends fighter jet delivery to Algeria worth 1.5 bln usd - report

RUSSIA (Thomson Financial) - Russia suspended delivery of a batch of its Sukhoi fighter jets to Algeria because they have not yet been paid for, Russian media reported Friday.


"Since Algeria has not fulfilled its financial commitments in the contract for the delivery of 28 SU-30 MKI aircraft, the delivery of a new batch has been suspended," the Interfax news agency quoted a Russian arms industry source as saying.

The source said Russia had so far delivered six of the aircraft to Algeria, under a 1.5 bln usd deal signed in 2006. The suspended lot had been due for delivery this month.


Russia also supplies Sukhoi fighters to India and Malaysia.


The financial daily Kommersant said Algeria had frozen payments on all military contracts with Moscow after Algiers said last month it would return 15 Mig-29 fighter jets it bought from Russia, because of their poor quality.

The head of Russia's Federal Agency for Industry, Andrei Dutov, on Monday accused Algeria of cancelling an order of Migs for "political" reasons.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23844955/for/cnbc

Ada peluang ke untuk TUDM beli SU-30 Algeria ni dgn harga yang murah?

Teringat kpd kapal Laksmana class yang kita beli, yang sepatutnya pergi ke Iraq, tapi Iraq kena embargo, jadi kita beli harga murah.

Kalau ya, boleh tambah lagi satu lagi squadron MRCA. Jimat pula duit.

airfilterkotor

Khabarnya Algeria SU-30MKA spec sama seperti MKM.

hijazzains

Rasanya sama dgn India punye Su-30MKI, MKM masih unik dengan Malaysia sahaja?

belacan79

Sistem di dalam mkm merupakan sistem internationel   MKI megunakan sistem daripada Isreal dan Rusia.

kapakterbang

algeria punya su30 dr irkut ke knappo?

airfilterkotor

Pasai ari tu terbaca kat web mana tak hengat, mereka ada buat perbandingan berserta gambar luaran SU-30 antara MKI, MKM dan MKA.
Algeria spec more or less like MKM one...

airfilterkotor

perhatikan tulisan warna merah - MKM/MKA

gancity

i though they MKA hv more Russian spec.... MKM more western and MKI more Isreal...

airfilterkotor

i think the MKA 'cedok' both on russian and western spec.

spiderweb6969

Algeria spat shows challenge to Russian arms sales
Tue 1 Apr 2008, 12:45 GMT

By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS, April 1 (Reuters) - A spat between Russia and Algeria over fighter jets has given the West a chance to open up a new market and shows the challenge facing Russian arms sales to developing countries as they grow more prosperous.

Few expect a dramatic shift in arms purchases by OPEC member Algeria, the developing world's fifth largest market for weapons in 2006, following its unusual decision to return 15 MIG warplanes it says contained some substandard parts, experts say.

But the initial rebuff reflects a recognition that traditional Russian arms buyer Algeria and fellow north African oil exporter Libya, can afford to shop around with state finances boosted by oil near $100 a barrel.

That realisation is part of a trend among increasingly wealthy developing nations such as India, which after decades of pro-Soviet ties has moved closer to Washington in recent years, with new arms sales and joint military exercises.

Algeria has increased its intake of U.S. arms since 2001, with Washington regarding the country among those on the "front line" in its efforts to thwart al Qaeda.

Malaysia is another country which now buys weapons from both sides.

"All the old certainties have gone," said Andrew Brookes, an aerospace expert at Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

"The Algerians are learning, like everyone else, that if they've got money why should they get ... stuff that's inappropriate when they can get good stuff from French, Europeans, British, Americans and Chinese?"


BIG SHARE

The United States and Russia have the biggest shares of the market for conventional arms sales to the developing world, a market worth over $28 billion in 2006, according to a Sept. 2007 report on arms sales by the U.S. Congressional Research Service.

Washington had the edge, with 35 percent of the market in 2006 compared to Russia's 28 percent, the report shows.

Germany, France and the United Kingdom are also major players.

But Russia has dominated arms sales agreements in North Africa selling equipment worth $3.2 billion between 1999 and 2006 compared to $600 million for Western European states and $100 million for the United States, U.S. government figures published in the report show.

U.S. restrictions which limit the transfer of defence technology to countries not seen as close friends or sufficiently trustworthy mean that U.S. defence firms cannot sell to certain states -- markets where Russia has traditionally done well.

Algeria and the United States had almost no defence trade before 2001, but that has changed, threatening not only Russia's dominance but the hopes of other sellers such as France.

Libya, a repeat customer for Russian and eastern European manufacturers and emerging from years of Western sanctions, is considering buying 14 Rafale warplanes from France's Dassault Aviation as part of a rapprochement with Paris after the 2007 election of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"You can get fantastic deals. The French will give you a fantastic deal on Rafales simply because they haven't sold any (abroad)," said Brookes.

In north Africa, traditional sales patterns are changing even in Morocco, which has no oil. The kingdom, which usually buys Western European or Russian, startled the defence industry last year by indicating it would spurn close ally France to buy F-16C/D fighters from America's Lockheed Martin Corp.


WIDER DEAL

Algeria's purchase of MIGs was part of a wider $7.5 billion arms deal signed in 2006 involving a range of defence equipment ordered by Algeria's largely Soviet-trained officer class. Most of the deal is expected to proceed without incident.

Along with the arms agreement, Russia agreed to write off a $4.7 billion debt Algeria had owed to the Soviet Union.

Russia, which denies any problem with the planes, has every reason to work hard to keep a historic weapons customer and sympathiser of the USSR with whom it also has close energy ties. Algeria earns $1.5 billion a week from oil and gas sales.

But unease in Algiers over the MIGs reflects a determination to obtain the best quality. The Algerian captain who discovered the alleged failings won a promotion and a decoration, Algerian newspapers reported.

"Business is business. When you pay for an apple you can't accept to get an orange," said an Algerian military analyst who asked not to be identified.

Russian media quoted Russian officials as saying Algeria's move stemmed from lobbying from other countries trying to sell weapons and from differences among various groups within the Algerian administration, and not from any technical problems with the MIGs.

David Hartwell, Middle East editor for Janes Country Risk, said Algeria's defence ties to Moscow were likely to survive.

"But obviously Algeria will be more demanding when it comes to quality," he said. He added that Algeria wanted "more effective and more updated aircraft".

Russia's position in Algeria is supported by old ties between their militaries. Also helpful is reluctance among some Western states about selling high-tech equipment to Algeria due to qualms about its human rights record.

Morocco remains a valued Western client. Suppliers eyeing the region will not want to alienate Rabat by providing too much high tech weaponry to regional rival Algeria, Hartwell said.

But Russia cannot regard its sales as guaranteed.

"The new younger officers coming in are going to want the new high tech stuff that's largely with the Western forces," said Brookes, referring to Algeria's air force. "That's not to denigrate Russian stuff. Their missiles are superb, for example."

He suggested Algeria's market could evolve in a similar way to Malaysia's.

"They're saying 'OK, we'll slowly alter our structure a) because we don't want to be dependent on one source that could be erratically turned off and b) there's a lot to be said for competition. It keeps everybody on their toes." (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Additional reporting by William Maclean) (Editing by Jason Neely and Matthew Tostevin)

areguard

This spell disaster for the MiG company...they are losing sales to Sukhoi from dometic market to global. Partly due to the Belarussian experts in Algeria sabotaging the Russian MiGs sales.