Bulgarian MoD wants to sell Mig-29s

Pan.bg 09 юни 2020 | 07:32 views (299) commentaries(0)
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Source: Scramble Magazine

According to Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov, the Bulgarski Voenno Vzdushnu Sili (BVVS, Bulgarian Air Force) wants to sell some of its Soviet made MiG-29 fighter aircraft when the F-16V Fighting Falcons have arrived. This is what he told to the National Assembly, where he expressed that "with the arrival of eight F-16s there would be no need to maintain the full fleet of MiG-29s. The idea of selling the MiGs was to recoup part of the investment costs".

At this moment the Bulgarian Air Force has fourteen operational MiG-29s. The overhaul costs for the 30+ year old aircraft are immense. In august 2019, the Bulgarian Parlement cleared the budget for the purchase of eight F-16V Fighting Falcons for the second time after the Bulgarian President Rumen Radev vetoed the deal. In the first week of June 2020, the first four pilots went to the United States to start their training for flying the F-16s. The first Falcon is scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2022, followed by the others in 2023 and 2024. Future procurement of eight more F-16s is considered after the initial batch of eight aircraft have arrived in Bulgaria.

Scramble Magazine assesses that the sale of the MiG-29s is most difficult if not impossible. Germany sold 22 MiG-29s to the Polish Air Force late 2003 for a symbolic price of €1,00 each. But Poland had to spend about €43 million to modernise the aircraft. Hungary tries to sell there MiG-29s for years now, without any success


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