Bulgaria - MiG-29
Bulgaria's Air Force owned twelve MiG-29 combat fighters and two MiG-29UB combat training planes, in addition to other combat vehicles. Bulgarian Air Force commander-in-chief Rumen Radev had warned that only two of Bulgaria’s Russian-made MiG-29 jet fighters may remain in service by May 2015.
Radev lamented the fact that the country’s military had neglected to repair the MiG-29 aircraft engines and hadn’t conducted preventive maintenance for many years. "It is impossible to buy spare parts and repair the Russian-made aircraft due to the imposition of sanctions against Russia”, Radev said 09 February 2015. Radev said that the situation has prompted Bulgaria to consider turning to its immediate NATO neighbors Greece and Turkey for the protection of Bulgarian airspace.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Nenchev announced 21 May 2015 that the Air Force needed to begin a fighter procurement program involving the purchase of Western fighters and the refitting of Soviet craft in order to keep the Air Force from being permanently grounded. Speaking before a parliamentary defense committee, Nenchev noted that the Air Force must submit their plans for the purchase of used multirole fighters from NATO countries or from Sweden by late June 2015.
The Air Force planned to scrap its five 1950s-designed MiG-21s by the end of 2015, but it remained unclear what the country will do with its 12 MiG-29 air superiority fighters, a more recent design, dating back to the mid-1980s. Air Force Commander Major General Rumen Radev clarified that the Air Force would be looking to have several of the MiG-29 fleet's planes revamped without costing the Ministry of Defense any additional funds, with the Institute of Defense creating a program to extend the aircraft lifespan.
It remained unclear what the country planned to do to extend the fighters' engines, which would reach the exhaustion of their technical usability by mid-2016. Commenting that Bulgaria has yet to reach an agreement with Russian engine manufactures, Nenchev noted that the Air Force may receive the necessary technical assistance for servicing the MiGs from Poland, which may offer (presumably used) engines at half the cost. Poland had initially acquired 12 MiG-29 aircraft in the 1980s, and 32 more from the Czech Republic and Germany after 1990.
Poland and Bulgaria signed a deal to renovate the planes in August 2015, without the consultation of all members of its Defense Council, the consultative body of its Ministry of Defense. Mihov noted that because Poland does not have a license to service Bulgarian MiG-29 fighters, the repairs will void the agreement between Russia and Bulgaria on obligatory service on the planes. Bulgaria has a total of 16 MiG-29 fighter jets, of which four were operational according to Poland's TVN24 television. Other than the Russian-made MiG-29 aircraft, Bulgaria also has three aging, Soviet-made MiG-21s.
Repairing the engines of Bulgarian MiG-29 jets in Poland was grounds for Russian aircraft manufacturer MiG Corporation to stop fulfilling contractual obligations related to maintenance of the aircraft. This is what a 28 October 2015 letter of the corporation addressed to the Russian Ambassador in Bulgaria reads. The letter, signed by CEO of RSK MIG, Sergey Korotkov, is the official position of the corporation related to the signing of an agreement for carrying out repair works of MiG-29 aircraft of the Bulgarian Air Force in Poland. The contract was signed on October 22 by Bulgarian Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev and Defense Minister of Poland Tomasz Siemoniak.
Bulgaria signed a 29 million euro deal with Russia in November 2016 to purchase 10 new engines for its MiG-29 fighter aircraft. According to Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, the agreement was signed on November 9, though he was reluctant to disclose any additional details about the contract. Borisov also announced that Sofia also sought to purchase maintenance rights for MiG and Sukhoi aircraft engines from Russia. It should be noted though that in 2015 Bulgaria, after NATO demands that its members abstain from military cooperation with Russia due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, signed an intergovernmental agreement with Poland, according to which the Polish side would handle the repairs of MiG aircraft engines and eventually even upgrade MiG aircraft at Bydgoszcz factories. However, this agreement was made without the consent of the engines’ manufacturer, Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG.
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