BANGALORE (India), February 14. /TASS/. The United Aircraft-Building Corporation (UAC) has signed a contract for the delivery of the first two advanced Mikoyan MiG-35 fighter jets to Russia’s Defense Ministry in 2017-2018, UAC President Yuri Slyusar said on Tuesday.

"We have signed a contract for two planes [MiG-35]. It will be implemented in 2017-2018," he said at the Aero India 2017 aerospace exhibition in Bangalore.

The MiG-35 is Russia’s most advanced 4++-generation multipurpose fighter jet developed on the basis of the serial-produced MiG-29K/KUB and MiG-29M/M2 combat aircraft.

The fighter jet features improved flight and technical characteristics, the most advanced onboard radio-electronic equipment and a wide arsenal of air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. The plane can develop a speed of 2.23 Mach and its operational radius exceeds the range of its predecessor MiG-29 by 50%

The flight tests of MiG-35 fighter aircraft began on January 26 and the plane’s international presentation was held in the Moscow Region on the following day.

Russia’s state armament program through 2020 stipulates the deliveries of MiG-35 fighter jets to Russia’s Aerospace Force. Commander-in-Chief of Russia’s Aerospace Force Viktor Bondarev said earlier that the purchases of over 30 such fighter jets were planned.