Bulgaria Considers Carrying Out the MiG-29 Overhauls in Poland

As we can read it in a report published by the Aeropress-bg.com website, Bulgarian Minister of Defence, Nikolay Nenchev, has stated, in his interview for BNT1 TV station, that Bulgaria is considering to have the overhauls of the Air Force’s MiG-29 fighters completed at the Bydgoszcz-based facility. He noted that the conditions offered by the company from Bydgoszcz are significantly better and more beneficial than those proposed by the Russians, and, moreover, Poland is a NATO member state.

Nenchev pointed out the fact that the current MiG-29 maintenance agreement signed with the Russian companies will expire by September 2015. The Bulgarians had it planned to acquire brand new multi-role jets, in order to replace the Russian aircraft, however, according to the information available, the funds which were to be allocated in order to realize this goal turned out to be insufficient.

Bulgaria is one of the countries, in which NATO decided to reinforce its presence in the light of the Ukrainian crisis. NATO activities in Bulgaria included an exercise, which involved USAF unit equipped with 12 F-15 fighters. Naval activity on the waters of the Black Sea is also one of the important elements of the NATO reassurance programme.
Bydgoszcz-based Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze No. 2 (Military Aviation Works No. 2) facility carries out out maintenance and support works for the Polish Air Force’s MiG-29 fighters. Just recently Fulcrum modernization programme has been realized, and the modified jets are currently being involved in the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission, operating from Lithuania.