Bulgaria could shift MiG maintenance contract from Russia to Poland (Defence Minister)

Because of the inflated prices being charged, Bulgaria will no longer rely on Russia to maintain its MiG-29 fighters but could reassign the business to Poland, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolai Nenchev told public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television.

Bulgaria, a Nato member since 2004, still uses Soviet-made fighters which for several years it has been paying Russia’s RSK MiG to upgrade and maintain.

An issue for years, unresolved by a succession of Bulgarian governments, is the acquisition of modern Western-made multi-purpose fighters.

When it joined Nato, Bulgaria made a stated commitment to taking its six MiG-21s out of service and acquiring eight modern multi-purpose fighters by 2016. However, with no money currently committed to this purpose, it appears impossible that this will happen within that timeframe.

A defence investment plan approved by the previous centre-right government in 2010 envisaged 100 million leva for the acquisition of new fighters and 50 million leva to further extend the life of the MiG-29s.

In 2006, when Bulgaria made a deal with the Russian firm to upgrade 12 MiG-29s and four trainers, the price tag was a reported $48 million.

In October 2014, Bulgarian air force chief Major-General Roumen Radev said that the maintenance costs of the Soviet-made aircraft to 2029 were almost equivalent to buying new Western fighters.

Signals from the caretaker government of Bulgaria in late 2014 that the country would move away from Russian-made fighters and the consequent dependence on Moscow were met with accusations from Russia of “betrayal” by Bulgaria. These accusations were, in turn, met with a strongly-worded slapdown from Sofia.......................http://sofiaglobe.com/2015/01/23/bulgaria-could-shift-mig-maintenance-contract-from-russia-to-poland-defence-minister/
23/1/15
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Related:

• Nato Secretary-General praises Bulgaria’s participation in alliance missions

• Bulgaria bases policy on national interests, EU values, Foreign Minister tells Russian ambassador

• Bulgarian defence minister: ‘Catastrophic consequences’ unless country rids itself of old Russian military equipment

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