A few years late and a few billion more than originally quotes, India's new carrier is conducting flight operations during sea trials. Seeing as India's home built carrier is now delayed several years, INS Vikramaditya promises to have a busy schedule for the near future. http://aviationintel.com/2012/08/01/mig-29kub-ops-aboard-the-ins-vikramaditya/
If you're going with a Russian made carrier based fighter what's the pros and cons of the Su-33 vs the MiG-29K?
The MiG-29 is a lot smaller, when space matters, and is (notionally) cheaper than an upgraded navalized Sukhoi.
For starters, the SU-33 is not currently in production, while the Mig-29K is. Saying that, Mig has been plagued for some time by spare parts availability issues. The Mig-29K makes use of the Zhuk M(E) radar, and is optimized for the ZHUKOV AE radar suite. The SU-33, if equipped with the M2 radar suite upgrade intended for the SU-27 would negate the Mig's radar advantage. One very interesting difference between the two aircraft is in footprint. While the SU-33 is longer than the Mig-29K, with wings folded it has less total width. The Mig-29K purchased by India ia actually the Mig-29KUB, and benefits greatly from the airframe upgrades of the Mig-35 program. It also has upgraded avionics over the SU-33, as the 33 was never subject to an upgrade program. In all honesty, an upgraded SU-33 would most probably represent a better strike platform, due to fuel and weapons carriage.
Although the reason the MiG-29K is in production is because the Indians chose it over an upgraded Su-33. That's why the Russians are tacking their own order of MiG-29Ks onto the Indian one, but the Indian choice was mostly about size and cost (dunno how that last one worked out for them).
SU-33 Wing span=14.7 meters (48ft 2inches) Folded span=7.4 meters (24ft 3 inches Mig-29K Wing span= 11.4 meters (37 ft 3 inches) Folded span= 7.8 meters (25ft 7 inches) Also, the Mig-29KUB is not the original Mig-29K. The KUB was essentially developed for Indian use, making use of the Mig-35 airframe. The Russian order was piggybacked on top of that order, after developmental costs were already sunk. It's often overlooked that the SU-33 production line was shut down after 30 airframes.
Folded wingspan is the same due to how the wings hinge, but the footprint (and weight) of the MiG-29 is much less than that of the Su-27. http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a...n-j-8-j-10-jf-17-fc-1-mig-21-mig-29-su-27.jpg Again, India chose the MiG-29 because they felt a smaller aircraft was better suited to their needs. Russia is choosing the MiG-29K because India chose it, and restarting Su-33 production for a couple dozen planes wouldn't be cost effective.
