MosNews - Russia’s MiG Corporation has received a $1.3 billion order from the Yemen Defense Ministry for delivery of 32 MiG-29 SMT fighter jets. In addition to this, the Russian producer will repair 66 old MiG-29 fighters for Yemen in the first quarter of 2007. Russian business daily Vedomosti reported on Thursday, Aug. 30, that the cost of the second contract will amount to about $1 billion.

As a result of this new order, MiG’s order portfolio will almost double to $4.5 billion. Thanks to the new contracts, the company’s revenues in 2007 will grow to $1.1 billion as compared with $245 million in 2005. Despite this, MiG’s order portfolio is still smaller than that of Russia’s largest military aircraft producer — Sukhoi Bureau.

This is not the first time that Yemen is buying military hardware from Russia. In 2001 the Middle Eastern country signed a contract for supplies of 20 MiG-20 SMT fighters. These jets were meant to replace the outdated fleet of American F-5E and Soviet MiG-21 as well as Su-20/22 fighters. In 2005 Russia completed a contract for delivery of another 6 MiG-29 SMT fighters and modernization of 14 MiG-29 SE that were bought earlier.