India is putting new combat radios on 36 MiG-29s to plug them into the IAF's tactical network

The Indian Air Force has begun putting new software-defined radios on its MiG-29UPG fighters, bringing the 1980s-era airframe onto the same Link-16-capable network already used by the Tejas Mk1 and Su-30MKI fleets.

The retrofit covers 36 jets, 29 single-seat fighters and seven twin-seat trainers, across three sites: Adampur, Srinagar, and the 11 Base Repair Depot at Nasik. Work is running in staggered batches over roughly a year and a half, and the integration rides on the aircraft's existing MIL-STD-1553 databus, the standard wiring that lets new avionics talk to older flight systems.

The hardware is Rafael's BNET-AR airborne radio, built in India through the Astra Rafael Comsys joint venture between Astra Microwave Products and Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The company won a ₹275.27 crore order, approximately $31 million at recent exchange rates, on January 8, 2026, with a 12-month execution window, according to CNBCTV18 and ET Manufacturing.

Software-defined radios (SDRs) are flexible, multi-band transceivers that can be reconfigured in software for different missions, waveforms, and data links. The specific package being fitted, Netcor 1 and Netcor 2, is the L-band variant of the BNET-AR, a broadband IP radio designed to carry the tactical data traffic that lets aircraft and ground controllers share a common picture of the battlespace. The same family is already in service on the IAF's Tejas Mk1 and Su-30MKI fleets.

The MiG-29UPG was the outlier. The Soviet-designed airframe dates to the IAF's 1986 induction; the UPG-standard jets now operate from Adampur, Jamnagar, and Srinagar, where the Srinagar-based squadron replaced a retiring MiG-21 unit. The new radios are what plug that fleet into the same Link-16-capable tactical network the rest of the line already uses. Link-16 is the NATO-standard tactical data link that lets aircraft, ships, and ground stations share a near-real-time air picture.

The contract scope is wider than the MiG-29 alone. Beyond the 36 MiG-29UPG integrations, the order also covers network-centric operations (NCO) installation across the broader MiG-29 fleet and 24 SDRs earmarked for the LCA Mk-1A programme, per IDRW's coverage of the contract. The 11 BRD at Nasik is the sustainment centre: the depot has handled prior depth-level MiG-29 work, including ejection-seat overhauls for the Navy's MiG-29K, positioning it as the natural hub for the integration push.

The MiG-29 work sits inside a wider IAF SDR programme. The service has spent roughly ₹2,500 crore, approximately $285 million at recent exchange rates, since 2019 on crypto-agile multi-band transceivers built to be compatible with Link-16 and indigenous tactical data links, per IDRW's reporting on the broader push. The point is convergence: every new airframe, and now the legacy ones, sharing the same tactical backbone rather than each fleet running on its own datalinks.

Astra Microwave's regulatory disclosure confirms the contract was awarded by a domestic entity, without naming the IAF directly.

The convergence changes more than fleet radios. With the MiG-29UPG on the same Link-16 backbone, pilots and controllers across the Tejas, Su-30MKI, and MiG-29UPG fleets can read from a single tactical picture rather than stitching separate datalinks together. Standardization also gives the IAF a common training pipeline for tactical data link operations and a single spares path for radio maintenance.

The first 18 months will show whether the three-site integration plan holds. If it does, the MiG-29UPG fleet will be the last major IAF platform on the common tactical data backbone rather than the holdout it currently is.