BULGARIA AND POLAND SIGNED THE AGREEMENT ON MODERNIZATION OF MIG 29 JET FIGHTERS

Bulgaria signed the contract with Poland for modernization of the fighter aircrafts MIG-29. On 22nd of October, Bulgaria’s Minister of Defence, Nikolai Nenchev and his Polish counterpart, Tomasz Siemoniak, put their signatures in Warsaw.

The agreed price of the upgrade is 6,138,000 euro, Poland’s state-owned Military Aviation Works will repair and upgrade 6 Bulgarian MiG-29 engines. The agreement with Poland envisages the repair of the engines of three aircraft by the beginning of September 2016.

The overall process of modernization of the soviet-made MIG 29 – from repainting of the hull, placement of new avionics and testing of systems for radio detection and security – will be carried in the Polish Wojskowe plant.

The term of the contract between Bulgaria and Poland is 10 months. The Polish party commits to fully modernize 4 Bulgarian engines within 6 months after their delivery. Two more engines will be ready 4 months after that. Part of the modernization will be carried out in the Military Aviation Works near Warsaw.

The deal with Poland will save Bulgaria 24 million BGN and additional almost 3% duty, as well as 20% VAT. The transportation costs will be borne by the Polish party.

In addition, 20 days after signing the agreement, Bulgaria would receive two Polish MiG-29 engines for temporary use for 200 flight hours, minister Nenchev said. In return, after the modernization of the Bulgarian engines, Poland would use the Bulgarian ones for the same amount of flight hours.

The modernization of the fighter jets in Poland is the first step towards stabilization of Bulgaria’s aviation after two weeks ago, the Commander of the Bulgarian Air Force, Major General Rumen Radev submitted his resignation over the alarming condition of the air forces, and subsequently withdrew the resignation.

Bulgaria envisages to negotiate with Poland on two more points – provision of full logistics support for Bulgaria’s aircrafts, as well as bringing them into full compliance with NATO standards.