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

[tigershark]

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

03.28.08, 11:43 AM ET
 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.

Link
http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/03/28/afx4826992.html


Welcome Mike

[Webmaster]

Russia agreed to take those MiGs back. At first I thought of the Russian complaint that this was 'political', well that's just total bs, the guy just won't admit they had quality issues.

But now Algeria is also holding payment on the Flankers? Starts looking like this is indeed something political...?

[MKopack]

While the Flanker is an impressive aircraft - like the Fulcrum - when it is actually flying, there have been several customers who have been 'less than impressed' with the quality of the product and the support of the supplier.

There are other - and better - choices out there. Will Algeria choose to go in another direction, or are they just going to get a much better deal, we'll see.

Mike

http://www.lucky-devils.net

[tigershark]

In ways I agree with you MKopack quality and actual flying hours are important.   I wonder how many Indian MKI Flankers are really operational I seem to remember something a few months ago maybe a little longer that some of the Indian Flankers were grounded too?   Webmaster using Venezuela as an example isn't this there third year of operations could we compared them to a third year Typhoon user?  I guess lot depends on how training is setup and carried out but it would be an interesting comparison.  I'm see this being worked out soon because most of Algeria of Algeria equipment is Russian made which means spare parts shortages and a lot of non service happening.  Could the French land a Rafale sale here?  With the right training, maintenance, weapons, etc, the Flanker could be a deadly fighter at least on paper.  A killer or the final nail in the coffin would be India going with a non Russian type for there 126 aircraft bid, wow that would hurt at this time.