Russia`s MiG corporation delivers first Il-103 planes to South Korea
Moscow, 15 June: The Russian MiG corporation has delivered the first two Il-103 multirole planes to South Korea under
the contract on delivering 20 such aircraft. "The contract on delivering 20 Il-103 aircraft to South Korea is being
fulfilled. At the present time we have shipped off the first two aircraft to South Korea," Sergey Chumachenko,
Director of the MiG regional department, has told Interfax-Military News Agency. He noted that it was the largest
contract, involving Il-103s. Some of the aircraft will be delivered to pay back the state debt, while the rest of them
will be exported on a commercial basis. The contract is expected to be completed in 2006.
"A team of MiG experts has arrived in Korea to assemble and test the aircraft," Chumachenko said. He also
said that prior to that Il-103s had been delivered to Latin America and Belarus. However, those deliveries comprised
small batches of three to four aircraft. According to him, Tanzania, Uganda, Libya, and a number of other states are
expressing their interest in the Il-103 at the present time. Chumachenko noted that the Il-103, produced by MiG,
featured high reliability. "These aircraft are manufactured in compliance with technologies and on assembly lines,
employed for producing combat aircraft," he said. [Passage omitted]
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