A major leak by the hacker collective Black Mirror has exposed severe reliability issues in the Zhuk-ME radar systems used on the Indian Navy’s MiG-29K carrier-based fighters, a critical component of India’s naval aviation power. Internal Russian documents, dated between 2016 and 2019, reveal that the radar performance was drastically below the contractual standards set in the 2004 deal, with the mean time between failures falling to as low as 20 hours, compared to the stipulated 150 hours. Despite repeated Indian complaints and limited attempts at redesign by Russian manufacturers Phazotron-NIIR and supervision by Rostec, the radar system continued to malfunction frequently, leading to official decertification by the Indian Navy in 2019. The leak also disclosed deliberate falsification of performance data by Russian engineers, including inflated reliability statistics based on simulated missions and use of dummy radar modules, eroding confidence in Russia’s defense exports. This scandal is intensifying India’s strategic pivot away from Russian platforms toward Western alternatives like France’s Rafale M, underscoring the urgency for India to strengthen indigenous defense technology to maintain its maritime operational edge amid regional security challenges.