Sofia hopes to receive MiG-29 spare parts from Warsaw

Bulgaria may benefit from the dispute between Poland and Ukraine, after Warsaw refused to provide its MiG-29 fighter jets to Kyiv. The Bulgarian Air Force will try to obtain parts and engines from Poland so that Bulgaria’s MiG-29s can remain operational at least until 2030. This will be one of the topics in the talks between Bulgarian Minister of Defence Dimitar Stoyanov and Poland’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski during the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday, sources from the Bulgarian defence ministry told 24chasa.bg.

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Bulgaria will continue maintaining the MiG-29s until 2030, because until then the pilots being trained on the F-16s will not be ready to fully assume combat duty, Minister Stoyanov also explained to 24chasa.bg. However, maintenance is becoming increasingly difficult due to a shortage of spare parts, and out of 15 available MiG-29 aircraft, only 6 are currently airworthy.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov