Northrop F-5 in Mexican AF colors

Mexico, which currently does not have any fighter jets in its air force is being wooed by Russia to sell its Yak-130 and MiG-29M Fighter Jets which will be presented at the Mexico Aerospace Fair FAMEX-2019 later this week.

The Russian arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, is setting up a joint Russian exposition at the FAMEX-2019 to take place at AFB 1 in Santa Lucia, Mexico, on April 24-27. Besides the fighter jets, a host of other Russian equipment such as helicopters and land equipment will be exhibited.

The Mexican Air Force (MAF) retired its fleet of eight Northrop F-5E and two F-5F Tiger IIs in 2016 after 34 years in service. Since there have been no moves to acquire fighter jets although the MAF has demonstrated a need for fast jets capable of ground attack in anti-narcotics operations.

A Rosoboronexport release said that the most promising sales prospects for mexico include the Yak-130 combat-trainer and MiG-29M multirole frontline fighter. Other platforms that have everything there is to pique the interest of foreign customers are the Mi-17V-5 and Mi-171Sh military transport helicopters, Mi-35M attack helicopter with troop-carrying capacity, Mi-28NE and Ka-52 gunships, as well as Ka-226T light multipurpose helicopter.

There is definite export potential in the Orlan-E, Orlan-10E, and Takhion unmanned aircraft systems, as well as AD systems, namely Pantsir-S1 gun-missile system, Viking and Buk-M2E SAMs, and Verba and Igla-S MANPADS, it said.