Bulgarian Cabinet to Decide on Repair Contract of MiG-29 Fighter Jets

The Bulgarian government will decide at its regular meeting on Wednesday whether to approve the contract devised by the Defence Ministry on the repair of the engines of MiG-29 fighter jets by Poland.

The contract, which is entitled “draft decision for approval of a draft agreement between Bulgaria and Poland for cooperation in the military area”, comes tenth on the agenda.

Last week, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev announced that he expects the contracts on the maintenance of the fighter jets to be finalised by the end of the month.

The memorandum of understanding and cooperation between the two countries will be most likely signed between August 27 and 29, when Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak is scheduled to visit Bulgaria.

The repair mainly concerns extending the resources of the engines of six of the fighter jets.

The current contract on maintenance with the Russian RSK MiG company expires in September.

Initially, the plans foresaw the extension of the resources of the engines to be entrusted to the Russian company, but the defence minister refused to sign the contract due to the high cost.

According to Nenchev, the Russian company suggested a maintenance cost of BGN 80 M.

Later the minister even announced that he had been offered a bribe in order to accept an agreement with such parameters.

The prosecutor's office launched an investigation into his claims, but no evidences on bribery were found.

The decision on extending the resources of the MiG-29 fighter jets is a temporary solution until Bulgaria renews its military aviation.

Nenchev was already granted a mandate for starting negotiations on the acquisition of a new military aircraft.

However it still remains unclear whether the negotiations will be focused on the acquisition of new fighter jets or second-hand ones.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece are offering second-hand fighter jets, but negotiations with producers on acquiring new aircraft are also possible.

In order for ensuring the normal functioning of the Bulgarian Air Force, the state has to purchase a squadron of nine fighter jets.

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