MiG in Austrian Tender

MiG in Austrian Tender

In a move that could give MiG Corp. a chance to win a multimillion-dollar defense contract, the Austrian Finance Ministry has requested that the country`s Defense Ministry revise the conditions of a tender for the purchase of new fighter planes, Jane`s Defense Weekly reported.

The Finance Ministry said the Defense Ministry will also have to explain why it turned down the comparatively cheap Russian fighters in February. Austria had planned to spend some $1.6 billion on 30 new fighters while the CMT-2 version of the MiG-29 could be purchased for between $30 and $35 million.

The tender has yet to be announced, but the present conditions are seen as favoring Sweden`s Grippen fighter, according to Vedomosti.

MiG Corp. is back in the running primarily because the Austrian Finance Ministry wants to use up to 20 percent of the value of the contract as payment for debt, the maximum permitted under European Union regulations, Vedomosti cited a government source as saying.

As part of the contract Russia has offered to help organize production of the MiG-110 light transport plane in Austria.

Moscow Times